Posted: 11 Oct 2010 03:38 PM PDT

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Megan Davies

BANGALORE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Children's clothing maker Gymboree Corp is selling itself to buyout firm Bain Capital Partners for $1.8 billion, it said on Monday, as cheap valuations and clean balance sheets make specialty apparel companies attractive takeover targets.

Bain beat other private equity bidders such as Apollo Global Management , which also had been pursuing the firm, two sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

The deal values Gymboree at $65.40 in cash and includes a "go-shop" period of 40 days until November 20 when the company can solicit rival bids.

Shares closed at $64.83 on Nasdaq, indicating the market is not anticipating a higher bid for the company.

About one third of the deal value is made up of equity and the remainder debt, one of the sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Private equity deal flow has increased in recent months, as financing markets have rebounded. Some buyout funds are under pressure to spend money before their investment periods end and concerns about potential tax hikes rise.

CRAZY 8

Many observers are expecting Crazy 8, a cheaper, funkier line of children's wear, to spur growth the company.

Gymboree has topped earnings estimates for the past six quarters, helped by the popularity of its "Gymbucks" program, where customers spending above a certain limit receive coupons, which they can then redeem on later purchases.

"The timing (for Gymboree) is prudent just because it allows them more flexibility to ramp up the growth of Crazy 8," said Betty Chen, who covers specialty apparel companies at Wedbush Securities.

"If companies have a growth vehicle, (going private) presents a great opportunity to grow it in private, incubate it, gain some traction and then take it out again in two or three years' time," Chen said.

Analysts think deal could fuel more takeovers in specialty apparel, with three analysts naming Children's Place Retail Stores Inc as a possible candidate. Children's Place, which hit a new year-high Monday, closed up 2 percent on Nasdaq, while rival Carter's Inc ended the day up 3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

"Specialty apparel companies usually have a lot of cash flow and the brand equity is also something that is quite difficult to start from scratch ... if you buy a strong brand like Gymboree, that is compelling," Chen said.

FAIR DEAL

Gymboree shareholders will get $65.40 in cash for each share held; a premium of 23.5 percent to the stock's closing on Friday. The offer values the company at a 57 percent premium to the stock's trading price before reports on a possible sale of the company made the rounds on September 30.

"The offer is in the range of what we were expecting ... around seven and a half to 8 times EBITDA," Chen said.

The deal is structured as a tender offer, which typically takes a shorter time to close than a regularly structured deal. A recent deal to take Burger King private was similarly structured.

Though the offer is not on par with what deals were at before the recession, it is compelling, said Sterne Agee & Leach analyst Margaret Whitfield. "I think shareholders will have something to say if an offer like this is turned down," she said.

The San Francisco-based retailer's shares were trading at about 13 times forward earnings, nearly half the industry average of around 25.

As of July 31, the company, which operates about 1,000 retail stores in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia, had cash on hand of about $132.4 million and no long-term debt.

The company said it will solicit acquisition proposals from third parties for a period of 40 days.

Goldman Sachs is acting as financial adviser to the special committee of the board. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are providing financing for the deal, one of the sources said.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore and Megan Davies in New York. Additional reporting by NR Sethuraman, Anil D'Silva. Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Anthony Kurian and Robert MacMillan)

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Donate and swap kids clothing at Owens Community College - WTOL-TV

Posted: 27 Oct 2010 08:16 AM PDT

Moms... This is your chance to get some new stuff... Without spending a penny.

Gather up those bags of clothes and bring them to Owens Community College today.

At "drop, swap and roll" you can exchange gently used infant, children and maternity clothes for items donated by others.

Items being accepted are T-shirts, hats, scarves, mittens, gloves, pajamas, pants, jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses, collared shirts, buttoned shirts, costumes, jackets, coats, snowsuits, shoes and boots, among other items. The clothing swap is not accepting clothing with visible stains, holes, broken zippers and missing buttons.

A point system will be established to determine the value of each clothing item donated by attendees. Individuals will then be given a tabulated voucher sheet to use when selecting the number of items from the already donated clothing selection. Participants are not limited to the number of items they may donate to the clothing swap event.

The event is free and runs from 10am to 8pm in the audio-visual classroom center room 125 on the Toledo-area campus.

Birth of the Cool | Stella McCartney Kids - New York Times Blogs

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 01:33 PM PDT

Perhaps the biggest perk of being a fashion designer is the ability to design not for yourself but for your kids. Just ask Stella McCartney. Not only is she about to bring her fourth child into the world, she's also about to introduce a new collection specifically for the 12-and-under set. Pieces like cashmere blend pea jackets and floral dresses are designed to be both affordable and timeless, so you don't have to choose between dressing your child well and sending her to college. And the line even features shrunken versions of pieces from her main collection. Still, McCartney knows that as fashion consumers go, kids are as fickle as anyone.

Do you take more pleasure in designing for yourself (and your friends) or for your kids (and their friends)?

I take pleasure in designing for both myself and my kids. Being so pregnant right now probably means I want to dress myself a little less, but hopefully when I have had my fourth baby and (fingers crossed) regained a waist, I might dream of dressing myself again! The two things are so separate yet so related. I think most mums secretly take more delight in dressing their kids, but maybe as I get older, I might find myself spoiling myself more! The reality is I am so lucky to be able to design for both myself and my kids; luckily, it is not all about just me or them, but lots of other people wearing it too!

Do you let your kids weigh in on the design process at all? If so, have they vetoed anything? Or have they asked for anything in particular? And do you oblige them?

‎ The kids are involved just by the mere fact that they are the most important things in my life, so are present in my brain at all times. Their likes and dislikes creep in, and sometimes I have to be careful of that, as my daughter is 3 and deep in the pink thing and I have to remind myself she will probably hate it in six months!

I try to think beyond just my experience of kids. When working on the collection, though, I have to go beyond their ages and think of older kids, think about all their needs, their parents, the timelessness, the ability to hand down to other generations, gifts, quality, cost, accessibility, distribution — every element is key, as it all makes kids' clothing important. I am not just dressing kids, I am creating memories … hopefully!

Did you learn anything particularly noteworthy about kids' design from the capsule collection you designed for the Gap?

I've wanted to do kids ever since I've had kids and probably even a little bit before. And everyone has said to me over the last years, "When are you going do kids?" So I had a lot of pressure with the collaboration I did with the Gap, and I continue to feel that pressure still now, because it's really about always having a great collection.

When I collaborated with the Gap, it was a "one-off" collection, and it really had to appeal to such a wide range of people. And now, launching my own kid collection, it is still really important — especially since children's clothes have sort of become disposable — for it to be accessible and realistic on the price points but still be timeless, have great quality and can be passed down for generations. For me, those were the points that were really key to achieve.

It's really a modern way of looking at kids' clothing, especially being a designer brand that is trying to be more considerate to the needs of the market. I think it's the right thing to do. I find it inconsiderate to do kids' wear and be incredibly expensive, because you are a designer brand. Our biggest challenge was trying to tick all of the boxes. We really wanted to make it modern from creating the right design for the right age group, to having unisex styles, to being available online immediately and to the price point. It really made the most sense for us right now to do it this way.

Stella McCartney Kids is available Nov. 3 at stellamccartneykids.com.

Kids Clothing

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

“Bain pays $1.8 billion for kids clothing firm Gymboree - msnbc.com” plus 2 more

“Bain pays $1.8 billion for kids clothing firm Gymboree - msnbc.com” plus 2 more

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