Myer and Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments shake hands on Apparel Brands deal
Myer and its most vocal critic have struck a deal for the department store chain to buy his company’s portfolio of fashion brands, including shopping mall mainstays Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Dotti and Portmans.
Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments announced the long-awaited deal on Tuesday.
Myer will issue 890.5 million new shares to Premier to fund the purchase of Apparel Brands — making Mr Lew’s private investment vehicle Century Plaza Investments its biggest shareholder with a 26.8 per cent stake — while Premier will offer a cash contribution of $82 million.
Once finalised early next year, Premier will hold 51.5 per cent of a expanded Myer that is expected to generate more than $4 billion in annual sales and earnings of $250 million.
Mr Lew will also take a seat on Myer’s board.
Myer said the “transformational” deal delivered significantly enhanced scale and capabilities to drive growth across a larger combined group.
Executive chair Olivia Wirth if backed by shareholders, it would create a leading retail group with more than 780 stores across Australia and New Zealand, with a large and highly engaged customer base and capital to fund future investment and growth.
“Myer and Apparel Brands have highly complementary store footprints and customers who will benefit from an expanded omni-channel ecosystem that enables them to engage with the group’s loved brands when and how they want,” Ms Wirth said.
“The combination will create significant opportunities to supercharge our leading Myer One loyalty program through greater reach, enriched data, enhanced cross-shop opportunities and increased personalisation to drive incremental sales growth.
Camera IconPremier Investments chair Solomon Lew. Credit: JULIAN SMITH/AAPIMAGE
“The combined business will also be well positioned to take advantage of capabilities in product development, design, sourcing and distribution to realise the full potential of Myer’s exclusive brands and private label portfolio and deliver improved margins for the group.”
Apparel Brands has 719 stores across Australia and New Zealand that caters for the full shopping age range — from 13 to 18 year olds at Jay Jays through to 35 to 80 year olds at Jacqui E
It has 5500 staff and last financial year generated $791m in sales, with online accounting for 16 per cent of the total.
Myer reported sales of $3.3b across its network of 64 stores, which includes eight
More to come.
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