NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2011
/PRNewswire/ -- Liz Claiborne, Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) today
announced that it has completed the transaction to sell its global
Mexx business to a joint venture in exchange for 18.75% of the
common equity of the joint venture and total cash consideration of
$85 million (subject to post-closing
working capital adjustments), which includes the assumption of ABL
facility debt by the joint venture. The Gores Group, LLC owns an
81.25% majority interest in the joint venture.
About Liz Claiborne, Inc.
Liz Claiborne, Inc. designs and markets a global portfolio of
retail-based premium brands including Juicy Couture, kate spade and
Lucky Brand. The Company also has a refined group of department
store-based brands with strong consumer franchises including the
Monet family of brands and the licensed DKNY® Jeans and DKNY®
Active brands. The Liz Claiborne and Claiborne brands are available
at JCPenney and the Liz Claiborne New York brand designed by
Isaac Mizrahi is available at QVC.
Visit www.lizclaiborneinc.com for more information.
Information on The Gores Group, LLC
Founded in 1987, The Gores Group, LLC is a private equity firm
focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing
businesses which can benefit from the firm's operating experience
and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational
expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic
buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial
buyer. The Gores Group, LLC is a leading investor having
demonstrated over time a reliable track record of creating
substantial value in its portfolio companies alongside management.
Headquartered in Los Angeles,
California, The Gores Group, LLC maintains offices in
Boulder, Colorado and London. For more information, please visit
www.gores.com.
Liz Claiborne, Inc. Forward-Looking Statement
Statements contained herein that relate to the Company's future
performance, financial condition, liquidity or business or any
future event or action are forward-looking statements under the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements
are indicated by words or phrases such as "intend," "anticipate,"
"plan," "estimate," "target," "forecast," "project," "expect,"
"believe," "we are optimistic that we can," "current visibility
indicates that we forecast" or "currently envisions" and similar
phrases. Such statements are based on current expectations only,
are not guarantees of future performance, and are subject to
certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company may
change its intentions, belief or expectations at any time and
without notice, based upon any change in the Company's assumptions
or otherwise. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties
materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results may vary materially from those anticipated,
estimated or projected. In addition, some risks and uncertainties
involve factors beyond the Company's control. Among the risks and
uncertainties are the following: our ability to continue to have
the necessary liquidity, through cash flows from operations and
availability under our amended and restated revolving credit
facility, may be adversely impacted by a number of factors,
including the level of our operating cash flows, our ability to
maintain established levels of availability under, and to comply
with the financial and other covenants included in, our amended and
restated revolving credit facility and the borrowing base
requirement in our amended and restated revolving credit facility
that limits the amount of borrowings we may make based on a formula
of, among other things, eligible accounts receivable and inventory
and the minimum availability covenant in our amended and restated
revolving credit facility that requires us to maintain availability
in excess of an agreed upon level; general economic conditions in
the United States, Europe and other parts of the world including
the impact of debt reduction efforts in the United States; levels of consumer
confidence, consumer spending and purchases of discretionary items,
including fashion apparel and related products, such as ours;
restrictions in the credit and capital markets, which would impair
our ability to access additional sources of liquidity, if needed;
changes in the cost of raw materials, labor, advertising and
transportation, which could impact prices of our products; our
dependence on a limited number of large US department store
customers, and the risk of consolidations, restructurings,
bankruptcies and other ownership changes in the retail industry and
financial difficulties at our larger department store customers;
our ability to successfully implement our long-term strategic
plans; risks associated with the transition of the Mexx business to
the joint venture in which we hold a minority interest and the
possible failure of the Mexx joint venture that may make our
interest in the joint venture of little or no value and risks
associated with the ability of the controlling JV partner to
operate the Mexx business successfully which will impact the
potential value of our minority interest; our ability to close the
sales of the Liz Claiborne family of brands and the Monet brand
pursuant to the respective terms of the applicable transaction
documents; costs associated with (i) the transition of the Liz
Claiborne family of brands, Monet, Dana
Buchman and Kensie brands from the Company to their
respective acquirers and (ii) the early termination and transition
of the DKNY® Jeans and DKNY® Active Licenses may negatively impact
our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash
flows and liquidity; our ability to sustain recent performance in
connection with the re-launch of our Lucky Brand product offering
and our ability to revitalize our Juicy Couture creative direction
and product offering; our ability to anticipate and respond to
constantly changing consumer demands and tastes and fashion trends,
across multiple brands, product lines, shopping channels and
geographies; our ability to attract and retain talented, highly
qualified executives, and maintain satisfactory relationships with
our employees; our ability to effectively transition our
distribution function to alternative third party solutions, and to
realize the cost savings anticipated from the closure of our
Ohio distribution facility; our
ability to adequately establish, defend and protect our trademarks
and other proprietary rights; our ability to successfully develop
or acquire new product lines or enter new markets or product
categories, and risks related to such new lines, markets or
categories; risks associated with the sale of assets to
J.C. Penney described above and the
licensing arrangement with QVC, Inc., including, without
limitation, our ability to continue a good working relationship
with these parties and possible changes or disputes in our other
brand relationships or relationships with other retailers and
existing licensees as a result; the impact of the highly
competitive nature of the markets within which we operate, both
within the US and abroad; our reliance on independent foreign
manufacturers, including the risk of their failure to comply with
safety standards or our policies regarding labor practices; risks
associated with our buying/sourcing agent agreements with
Li & Fung Limited, which results in a single foreign
buying/sourcing agent for a significant portion of our products;
risks associated with our United
States distribution services agreement with Li &
Fung, which results in a single third party service provider for a
significant portion of our United
States distribution; a variety of legal, regulatory,
political and economic risks, including risks related to the
importation and exportation of product, tariffs and other trade
barriers, to which our international operations are subject; our
ability to adapt to and compete effectively in the current quota
environment in which general quota has expired on apparel products,
but political activity seeking to re-impose quota has been
initiated or threatened; our exposure to foreign currency
fluctuations; risks associated with material disruptions in our
information technology systems; risks associated with privacy
breaches; risks associated with our plans to substantially grow our
business in Asia through
Kate Spade's joint venture with
E-Land Fashion China Holdings, Limited and Kate Spade's reacquisition of certain
distribution rights in (i) the People's Republic of China via such joint
venture and (ii) certain Southeast Asian territories;
limitation on our ability to utilize all or a portion of our US
deferred tax assets if we experience an "ownership change"; and the
outcome of current and future litigations and other proceedings in
which we are involved; and such other factors as are set forth in
the Company's 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the
Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters
ending April 2, 2011 and July 2, 2011, each filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the section in
each report entitled "Item 1A-Risk Factors". The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Liz Claiborne, Inc.
