Likelihood of Destination Maternity’s Shutdown Advances with Stalking Horse Bidder Deal
With the acquisition, Marquee Brands will diversify its women’s fashion division and add scale to its directly managed e-commerce platform. Marquee Brands currently operates across women’s fashion, men’s fashion, active & outdoor and home & food divisions.
MOORESTOWN, NJ—Marquee Brands LLC reports it has emerged as the successful bidder for the intellectual property, e-commerce business and other assets of Destination Maternity Corp., which is headquartered here.
Marquee Brands was the stalking horse bidder for Destination Maternity and its trademarks: Motherhood Maternity, A Pea In The Pod and Destination Maternity. With the acquisition, Marquee Brands will diversify its women’s fashion division and add scale to its directly managed e-commerce platform. Marquee Brands currently operates across women’s fashion, men’s fashion, active & outdoor and home & food divisions.
Multiple published reports state that Destination Maternity Corp. cancelled its bankruptcy auction and declared Marquee Brands the winning bidder. The cancellation was disclosed in a court filing Monday, which indicated no other qualified bids were received by last week’s deadline, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The deadline to submit qualified bids ended Dec. 5.
Marquee Brands states is evaluating all aspects of the current business, including its network of retail stores, but states it “intends to transform the business model to better compete in the digital age, focused on building an engaged online community of new and expecting mothers and developing rich content to support their journeys. Marquee Brands is working with a consortium of best-in-class partners to deliver technical and fashion-forward maternity apparel collections to consumers. Marquee Brands also intends to embrace existing and new strategic marketing partnerships with prominent third parties who offer a complementary product or service to its customers and help them navigate the next stage of motherhood.”
The sale is subject to final approval by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the district of Delaware at a hearing scheduled on Thursday, Dec. 12. It is expected that the transaction will close by Dec. 20.
Marquee Brands’ bid of approximately $50 million involves the purchase the Destination Maternity’s e-commerce businesses, intellectual property, leased departments within department stores and baby specialty stores, strategic marketing partnerships and the right to designate certain inventory and related assets for sale by its partners, Gordon Brothers and Hilco Merchant Resources.
The bid of approximately $50 million also involves the assumption of certain liabilities and represents a baseline bid. The application for approval of Marquee Brands as the stalking horse bidder was filed with the bankruptcy court on Nov. 29.
Marquee Brands, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, is a leading global brand owner and marketer. Owned by investor funds managed by Neuberger Berman, a leading employee-owned investment management firm. The company’s brands include: Martha Stewart, BCBGEneration, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Ben Sherman, Body Glove, Bruno Magli, Dakine and Emeril Lagasse.
Destination Maternity’s 446 stores operate under three retail flags: Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity. The company currently has 491 leased departments within Macy’s, buybuy BABY and Boscov’s. The company stated in an announcement in October that during the bankruptcy proceedings it planned to sell some of its stores. In its bankruptcy filing, Destination Maternity stated it would commence to shutter no fewer than 175 locations by Oct. 28 and no fewer than 35 additional locations by Nov. 1.