Heavy trading in L Brands on push for sale, spin-off

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FILE- In this Nov. 8, 2018, file photo model Devon Windsor walks the runway during the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Pier 94 in New York. Shares in the company that owns Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works are surging after a hedge fund began pushing for a sale or turning the latter into a separate, publicly traded company. Barington Capital Group laid out those recommendations and others in a letter Tuesday, March 5, 2019, to L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Shares in the company that owns Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works are surging after a hedge fund began pushing for a sale or the lingerie company, or the creation of a separate, publicly traded company for the latter.

Barington Capital Group laid out a number of recommendations Tuesday in a letter to L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner. The activist investor said L Brands, based in Columbus, Ohio, has underperformed its competitors for five years, with shares having lost nearly three-quarters of their value.

Barington says Victoria's Secret has become outdated and failed to adapt to "women's evolving attitudes towards beauty, diversity and inclusion."

Bath & Body Works is a different story and talk of an initial public offering of shares pushed shares of L Brands up 3 percent, to $27.49. Shares were closer to $100 in late 2015.