retail
Exclusive: C. Wonder raises $35 million
February 4, 2013: 2:46 PM ET
Chris Burch secures big investment for preppy retail chain.
FORTUNE -- Women's fashion retailer C. Wonder has raised $35 million in private equity funding, Fortune has learned.
The investment comes just weeks after C. Wonder founder Chris Burch reached a legal settlement with ex-wife Tory Burch, who runs her own eponymous retail brand (which the former couple launched together). Chris had sued Tory for allegedly interfering with his efforts to sell his stake in Tory Burch, while Tory's counter-suit accused C. Wonder of stealing signature design features of Tory Burch products and stores.
On that latter point, here is what Tory Burch's attorney Marc Wolinsky told Women's Wear Daily at the time: "Tory Burch is saying it won't let Christopher Burch sell out his interest and get hundreds of millions of dollars and continue to compete against the company... This guy ripped off Tory Burch. His product looks like our product, his stores look like our stores."
As part of the settlement, Chris sold most (but not all) of his 28.3% stake in Tory Burch to private equity firms General Atlantic and BDT Capital Partners. No financial terms were disclosed, but some reports valued the entire stake at around $600 million. It's unclear if the settlement also requires C. Wonder to make any changes to merchandise or decor.
MORE: Tory Burch talks about choosing great investors
As for the new C. Wonder financing, Chris Burch provided the following comment to Fortune:
"This investment underscores that C. Wonder is resonating not only with our customer but with the financial and retail community. I am immensely proud of the work that Amy Shecter, President of C. Wonder, and her team have done in the last 16 months since we opened the first C. Wonder in SoHo in October 2011."
C. Wonder declined to identify the lead investor or discuss valuation, although Fortune has heard that the latter is several hundred million dollars.
So it seems that all's well that ends well. Well, at least for now...
UPDATE: WWD is now reporting Fidelity is the investor, and that the $35 million is in exchange for a 10% stake.
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A different kind of Black Friday coming for physical retailers
Physical retailers aren't long for this world
By Jeff Jordan, contributor
If you're a physical retailer and you sell the same SKU's as Amazon, you will not have a Happy Holiday this season.
Starting with the hoopla around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the media has been full of stories on how physical retailers plan to beat back the competitive pressure from online retailers. They detail a number of strategies, such as expanding their MORE
Dec 13, 2012 2:23 PM ET -
Talbot's softens toward Sycamore
Talbot's agrees to open its books
Talbot's Inc. (TLB) may want to hear Sycamore Partners out, after all.
The women's apparel retailer last month turned down a $212 million buyout offer from Sycamore last month, saying that the $3 per share offer was "inadequate and substantially undervalues" the company. But today Talbot's seems to have softened toward Sycamore, revealing in a regulatory filing that it will let the private equity firm have MORE
Dan Primack - Jan 30, 2012 10:39 AM ET -
A tale of two consumers: Why Prada is killing it
It's not all bad news out there. Some brands are not only surviving this global economic downturn, they're thriving.
FORTUNE -- Here's a piece of counter-narrative news as economies around the globe continue to struggle: Prada announced yesterday that it had a great quarter this summer, exceeding Wall Street's expectations. Anyone who bet against the luxury brand is now chastised. Even in the worst economy in a generation, plenty of people MORE
Duff McDonald, Contributing Editor - Sep 20, 2011 12:52 PM ET -
Update: Ex-Golden Gate partner forming own firm
Yesterday we reported that Stefan Kaluzny had resigned as a managing director with Golden Gate Capital, where he had been part of the founding team in 2000. Now we have some additional details.
A source familiar with the situation says that Kaluzny is planning to open his own private equity firm, with a focus on investments in the retail sector. Joining him will be Peter Morrow, who most recently served as MORE
Dan Primack - Jan 23, 2011 4:05 PM ET -
Dillard's strikes real estate gold
Are struggling department stores sitting on a real estate gold mine?
Wall Street certainly hopes so, judging by Thursday's furious rally in shares of Dillard's (DDS) and the smaller gains in JCPenney (JCP) and the biggest laggard of them all, Sears Holdings (SHLD).
Dillard's surged 17%, JCPenney 6% and Sears 5% after Arkansas-based Dillard's said it intends to set up a real estate investment trust that will allow it to borrow against MORE
Colin Barr - Jan 20, 2011 11:00 AM ET -
What it really takes to get unemployment down
The harsh reality is that it will take tremendous growth in the GDP even to make a small dent in the unemployment rate.
Despite some mildly good economic news this week including an uptick in retail sales for October, the US economy is likely still years away from seeing unemployment fall in any meaningful way.
In fact, the American economy appears to barely be able to keep joblessness from rising further. US MORE
Nin-Hai Tseng, Writer - Nov 16, 2010 8:54 AM ET -
10 signs the consumer is not dead
Americans are certainly strapped, but there is very convincing evidence that consumers are rebounding faster than most economists give them credit for.
By Jeff Westmont, contributor
Although consumers in the U.S. are under considerable pressure from high unemployment and elevated debt levels, they are much stronger financially than is commonly recognized. In fact, as the New York Fed noted today, most Americans have made significant strides in repairing their balance sheets and MORE
Nov 8, 2010 1:30 PM ET
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