Done Deal: Simon – Authentic Brands buy another retail brand

The retail portfolio of the joint venture between Simon Property Group and brand management company Authentic Brands keeps expanding.

The joint venture, Sparc Group, obtained court approval for its purchase of Lucky Brand Dungarees, which filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of July. The purchase price was $140.1 million.

The approval came the same day that Sparc, after upping its offer to $325 million, was the successful bidder for Brooks Brothers. The sale is still subject bankruptcy court approval. 
 
Under the terms of the agreement, ABG-Lucky LLC, a newly formed subsidiary of Authentic Brand Group will acquire the intellectual property assets of Lucky. Other brands previously acquired by Sparc include Aéropostale, Forever 21 and Nautica.

Lucky Brand, which was owned by Leonard Green & Partners, had been working to restructure its retail operations and refinance debt before the pandemic struck.

As of May, the company operated 112 stores and 98 outlet locations in North America. In a July 3 court filing, Lucky Brand identified 13 locations as "initial closing stores.”