Golden Gate Capital has completed its previously announced acquisition of Eddie Bauer’s assets for $286 million in cash.
As a result of the deal, Eddie Bauer will operate as a newly formed company with a stronger balance sheet, little or no long-term debt and a substantially lower cost structure. Eddie Bauer plans to maintain the majority of its stores and employees while refocusing the brand on its outdoor heritage.
“Eddie Bauer has extraordinary assets in the form of its management team, its brand and its nearly century old relationship with consumers in North America and abroad,” said Stefan Kaluzny, managing director at Golden Gate Capital, in a statement.
Eddie Bauer joins Golden Gate Capital’s other multichannel retail brands such as J. Jill and the Orchard Brands stable of catalog-based brands which together provide the company with “terrific scale and a rich understanding of vertically integrated multichannel retailing,” Kaluzny added. “Together these companies have sales of $4 billion, 1,250 stores representing nearly 10 million square feet of retail space and rapidly growing e-commerce and direct sales operations in excess of $1.5 billion.”
Golden Gate emerged as the leading bidder for Eddie Bauer during a bankruptcy auction last month after Eddie Bauer voluntarily entered initiated Chapter 11 reorganization.
