Fifth & Pacific Sells Lucky Brand to Focus on Kate Spade

Fifth & Pacific (NYSE:FNP) inked a $225 million deal on Tuesday to unload its Lucky Brand Jeans to private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, allowing the company to focus its energy on its Kate Spade brand.

The transaction comes two months after Fifth & Pacific announced the $195 million sale of its Juicy Couture deal to Authentic Brands Group, a unit of Leonard Green. The deals are part of the company’s efforts to return to its roots as a “mono-brand company.”

"We believe that by focusing all of our resources on the huge opportunity at Kate Spade, we can deliver the strongest value creation opportunity for our shareholders. This is all about bringing Kate Spade to its full potential,” Fifth & Pacific CEO William McComb said in a statement.

Based in Los Angeles, Leonard Green currently has a number of investments in the retail sector, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, J. Crew and the Whole Foods Market.

Lucky Brands saw its sales jump 7.3% to $120 million last quarter. The $225 million price tag represents a multiple of over seven times the brand’s latest 12 months pro forma adjusted standalone earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA.

Fifth & Pacific said the sale price consists of $140 million to be paid in cash at closing and $85 million to be financed in the form of a three-year seller note that bears cash interest of $8 million per year. The three-year note has a maximum payment obligation of $100 million at maturity.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

Shares of Fifth & Pacific advanced 0.97% to $33.44 Tuesday morning, extending its 2013 surge to 169%.

Centerview Partners and Perella Weinberg Partners advised Fifth & Pacific on the deal.