Payless ShoeSource Parent Purchased for $2B

Wolverine World Wide, Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital Partners have acquired Collective Brands, the parent company of the Payless ShoeSource chain for $2 billion including the assumption of debt.  The acquisition will split portions of the business.

 

Wolverine, owner of the Merrell and Hush Puppies shoe brands, will gain Collective's wholesale and retail operations of the Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Stride Rite and Keds brands. Blum Capital and Golden Gate, will jointly acquire the operations of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International, which will operate as a standalone company.

 

The acquisition comes as Collective Brands found itself at an inflection point. Last August, the company announced it would close more than 450 underperforming stores over a three-year period in an effort to better position its Payless and Stride Rite stores.

 

Payless ShoeSource became Collective Brands after acquiring Stride Rite Corporation in August 2007. Its retail operations, which included 3,500 Payless ShoeSource outlets in the U.S. last fiscal year, accounted for 78% of revenue. The remainder came from its wholesale business, which supplies Saucony, Sperry Top-Sider, Stride Rite and Keds shoes to retailers.

 

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