Claiborne makes strategic decision

NEW YORK Liz Claiborne today reported that it will sell its Laundry By Design and C&C California brands and close its Sigrid Olsen brand. The company said that it is retaining the Enyce brand, which was included with the aforementioned brands in a strategic review.

Liz Claiborne has entered into an agreement to sell Laundry By Design and C&C California to Perry Ellis International  for approximately $37 million in cash subject to inventory adjustment, while Liz Claiborne. will retain approximately $5 million in net working capital, excluding inventory. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

The company said it will close its existing 54 Sigrid Olsen stores by mid-2008, however there is potential to redeploy up to a dozen specific locations for its Direct Brand businesses where appropriate. As a result of these closures, the company expects to incur cash costs of approximately $17-$22 million.

Liz Claiborne said the Enyce will now fall under the company's partnered brands segment under the direction of Dave McTague, evp of partnered brands, and will continue to be run by Carmine Petruzello, president of Enyce.

Ceo William McComb stated, "Today's announcement marks a significant step forward in the effort to hone our portfolio and better focus our resources on building fewer, more powerful brands. Throughout the process, each brand was comprehensively evaluated to determine how to best maximize the value for our shareholders, and we are pleased with the outcomes to date. The strategic reviews are an important part of the turnaround plan, along with aggressively managing costs, investing in marketing, developing best-in-class retail capabilities and innovating our supply chain. We have made great strides over the past several months in driving innovation throughout the organization and are on our way to becoming the brand-centric, design-driven, customer-focused organization that we envision for Liz Claiborne."