Acquisition is Key Component of Retailer's House of Brands Strategy with
Leading Youth Lifestyle Brand, Airwalk(R), Among Top Brands in Transaction
TOPEKA, Kan., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Payless ShoeSource (NYSE: PSS)
announced today its plans to acquire privately held Collective
International, LP, Denver, a brand development, management and licensing
company with a strong youth lifestyle and board sport-inspired brand
portfolio including Airwalk(R), Vision Street Wear(R), Lamar(R), Sims(R),
LTD(R), genetic(TM), Dukes(R), Rage(R), Ultra-Wheels(R), and Skate
Attack(R).
Collective's focus is on the growing active sport lifestyle market
driven predominantly by the skate- and snowboard-inspired trends. The
company is strongly positioned with its authentic brand portfolio that has
consistently proven its ability to reach both the younger consumer with
strong ties to board sports, as well as appeal to the broad range of
consumers drawn to this established lifestyle and fashion.
"The acquisition of Collective is another significant step in our
strategy to position Payless as a vertically integrated, House of Brands
retailer offering well-recognized brands combined with on-trend,
high-quality footwear and accessories at a great price," said Matthew E.
Rubel, Chief Executive Officer and President of Payless. "Collective owns
some of the most popular youth lifestyle brands in the U.S. Through this
acquisition, we have an opportunity to expand Airwalk, an important brand
for Payless, secure access to great brand management talent and expertise,
as well as establish a platform to enter the brand development, management
and licensing business."
The acquisition provides immediate brand leverage for Payless' core
footwear and accessories product lines in the youth lifestyle, athletics
and outdoor categories. It also facilitates building broad corporate
intellectual property management and brand development capabilities to
create a diversified portfolio of brands serving discrete consumer segments
across a range of price points, categories, and sales channels. As well,
with this acquisition, Payless is establishing a licensing business that
will provide growth opportunities across multiple product categories in
domestic and international markets to create new revenue streams from
wholesaling or licensing to other retailers and third parties.
Payless plans to operate Collective as a Denver-based wholly-owned
subsidiary headed by Collective's President and CEO Bruce Pettet and
staffed by Collective's talented design and licensing team.
"This acquisition provides Collective with a tremendous parent company
that will accelerate our ability to become the leader in youth lifestyle
and fashion athletic brand licensing," Mr. Pettet said.
Payless has been a licensee of the Airwalk brand since 2003 and
features the brand on a wide range of footwear and accessories. Payless has
helped drive Airwalk to be the number two skate footwear brand in America.
Today, Payless' House of Brands product offering includes athletic and
athletic-inspired brands including Champion(R), Spalding(R), Shaquille
O'Neal- endorsed Dunkman(TM), Airwalk, and Tailwind(R), a unique new
performance technology-meets-fashion women's footwear brand supplied by
Exeter Brands Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of NIKE, Inc., as well as
the youth fashion brand American Eagle(R), acquired in 2006.
The purchase price is expected to be approximately $91 million, subject
to customary purchase price adjustments to reflect the current assets and
total liabilities at closing. The transaction is anticipated to close in
the first half of Payless' fiscal 2007. Payless believes the proposed
transaction will be neutral to its fiscal 2007 net earnings and will be
accretive to its fiscal 2008 net earnings.
About Payless and Forward Looking Statements
Payless ShoeSource, Inc., the largest specialty family footwear
retailer in the Western Hemisphere, is dedicated to democratizing fashion
and design in footwear and accessories and inspiring fun, fashion
possibilities for the family at a great value. As of the end of the fourth
quarter 2006, the company operated a total of 4,572 stores. In addition to
its stores, customers can buy shoes over the Internet at
http://www.payless.com .
This release contains one or more forward-looking statements. Forward-
looking statements are identified by words such as "will," "plans," and
other similar words. A variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties
could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated
results which include, but are not limited to: satisfaction of all
conditions required for closing, changes in consumer spending patterns;
changes in consumer preferences and overall economic conditions; changes
intellectual property, customs and/or tax laws; litigation, including
intellectual property and employment litigation; the ability to hire and
retain associates; threats or acts of terrorism; strikes. Please refer to
the Company's 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
January 28, 2006 or the Company's Form 10-Q for the period ending October
28, 2006 for more information on these and other risk factors that could
cause actual results to differ. The Company does not undertake any
obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SOURCE Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
 back to top
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/136152.html/ (PSS)
CONTACT:
Media, Mardi Larson, +1-612-928-0202,
mardilarson@aol.com , or Financial, James Grant, +1-785-559-5321,
both of Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
|
