Express Sold for $174M to PHOENIX RETAIL, a Newly Formed Joint Venture
PHOENIX RETAIL, a newly formed joint venture comprising mall owners Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, Centennial, and brand equity and management firm WHP Global, received court approval on June 15 to acquire most of Express Inc.’s assets out of Chapter 11. PHOENIX will pay about $174 million split between $136 million in cash consideration and $38 million of assumed liabilities. The transaction is expected to close within the coming week, subject to customary closing conditions.
The consortium will operate all direct-to-consumer commerce in the U.S. for the Express and Bonobos brands. The deal will also keep over 450 physical stores open and nearly 7,000 jobs intact, PHOENIX RETAIL said in a statement.
Total Retail's Take: Friday's announcement comes less than two months after Express filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced it would close 95 of its eponymous shops and all of its UpWest store locations. At the time, Express hinted it may sell most of its retail stores and operations to an investor group that included WHP, Simon Property Group, and Brookfield Properties.
The sale announcement is great news for the mall-based retailer, which has seen a softening in its business for several years now, with revenues down by about 10 percent since 2019. It has struggled to compete with additional competition in the category such as Zara and H&M, and also has seen demand for its products nosedive as more people work from home or in offices with more casual fashion. The takeover by PHOENIX will provide the troubled brand with some stability through an infusion of capital, experts said.
