Sperry Top-Sider Bill Fish Tan and Beige.
Mayra Beltran | Houston Chronicle | fake images
Wolverine around the world sold Sperry to brand management firm Authentic Brands Group and Canadian retailer Aldo Group, the company announced Thursday.
The deal will generate $130 million, which Wolverine plans to use to pay down its debt, he said.
Wolverine originally acquired Sperry in 2012 from Payless ShoeSource owner Collective Brands in a $1.23 billion deal that also included Saucony, Stride Rite and Keds.
The terms of the partnership between Authentic and Aldo were not immediately clear. The two companies already work together, with Aldo helping Authentic manage brands like Roxy and Brooks Brothers.
Wolverine, which manages a portfolio of clothing and footwear brands including Merrell, Hush Puppies and Sweaty Betty, said in May it was looking for strategic alternatives for Sperry after realizing the investments the segment needed would be better served elsewhere. of your business.
“It just became clear that Sperry was going to continue to require investments that were going to detract from what we thought was the upside,” then-Wolverine CEO Brendan Hoffman said on a call with analysts in May after the company will report its fiscal results. first quarter earnings.
He said the decision would allow Wolverine to put more resources into expanding Merrell's lifestyle business, expanding Saucony's reach beyond its core active and lifestyle consumers, and stabilizing Sweaty Betty's home market in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Retailers lose weight
Wolverine's decision to sell Sperry comes as retailers look to streamline their businesses and focus on growth drivers by shedding their underperforming assets while navigating an increasingly uncertain economy.
In November, Calvin Klein's parent company, PVCsold a trio of lingerie and intimate apparel brands (True & Co., Warners and Olga) to Basic Resources for $160 million. WalmartMeanwhile, it offloaded Moosejaw, Bonobos and Eloquii in a series of transactions earlier in the year.
Prior to its decision to sell Sperry, Wolverine made a deal to sell Keds to designer brand, the parent company of DSW, for more than $90 million. He sold Hush Puppies' intellectual property in China, Hong Kong and Macau for $58.8 million. He also plans to sell his US business Wolverine Leathers for $6 million.
The retail industry has seen consumers reduce spending in the face of persistent inflation, high interest rates and, most recently, the resumption of student loan payments. But the footwear and apparel sectors have felt that pressure acutely.
shoe drawer has reported quarter after quarter of declining sales, and even Nike has begun a $2 billion restructuring as it prepares for what it called a “softer” revenue outlook.
In the three months ended Sept. 30, Sperry posted just $46.2 million in revenue, a 41.4% drop from the same period a year earlier, when it posted $78.9 million in sales.
While sluggish sales at Sperry have hurt Wolverine's overall business, the crisis has created an attractive entry point for Authentic, which is dedicated to buying distressed brands at attractive valuations and then allocating the resources necessary to revive them.
In November, CNBC reported that Authentic competitor WHP Global was also interested in purchasing Sperry. At the time, GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders said Authentic and WHP's interest in Sperry, as well as Hanesbrands' The champion's phrase made “perfect sense.”
“They have a good operating context in which they can integrate these brands, whether through licensing, through international expansion, getting them further into physical retail or selling them direct to consumer,” Saunders previously said. “They almost have an operating model where they can bring brands in and start seeing better performance.”
