DEALS FOR LA PERLA, SAMSONITE/2 DUNDAS OUT AT UNGARO/2 Women’sWWD Wear Daily • The Retailers’FRIDAY Daily Newspaper • July 6, 2007 • $2.00 Beauty A Boy-Girl Thing PARIS — Giorgio Armani has long made a masculine-feminine duality part of his signature, and it was highly effective in the strong fall Privé collection he showed on Wednesday, his best thus far. It featured great-looking, real-world looks, some playing the fi nely tailored and the softly shaped against each other. Here, one example: a sharp haberdashery jacket and romantic full skirt. For more on the couture, see pages 4 to 7. Fast Times at Barneys: Uniqlo Parent Submits $896M Bid for Retailer By Vicki M. Young NEW YORK — A bidding battle is on for Barneys New York. Fast Retailing Ltd., the Tokyo-based owner of fast-fashion chain Uniqlo and an investor in contemporary brand Theory, on Thursday surprised the industry with an unsolicited $896 million offer for Barneys, trumping the $825 million bid from Dubai-based investment firm Istithmar that seemed relatively assured. The approach immediately set off speculation as to what will happen next — and even whether more bidders could enter the race. The Middle See Fast, Page14 PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI GIOVANNI PHOTO BY 2 WWD, FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2007 WWD.COM Equity Players Snap Up WWDFRIDAY Samsonite and La Perla Beauty By Amanda Kaiser out into eyewear, fragrances FASHION and even denim. But some of its Giorgio Armani’s fall Privé couture collection was inspired by David eep-pocketed private equity expansion efforts have faltered. 4 Bowie, while Jean Paul Gaultier’s had a princes-and-maharajas theme. Dfi rms are set to scoop up two Last year, the company shut its more luxury goods brands. money-losing retail venture Italy’s lingerie and fashion Intimo 3, a chain of 120 stores. GENERAL group La Perla SpA and JH Intimo 3 hit La Perla’s bal- Tokyo-based Fast Retailing ignited a possible bidding war for Barneys Partners LLC, based in San ance sheet, and the group post- 1 New York Thursday by offering a 9 percent premium over Istithmar’s bid. Francisco, said Thursday they ed a loss of 21 million euros, had reached a preliminary or $27.2 million at current ex- Emanuel Ungaro said Thursday that designer Peter Dundas had de- agreement for the U.S. fund to change, in 2006. Last year, group 2 parted, with no timetable for naming his successor. buy a majority stake in La Perla sales reached 178.2 million In separate deals, private equity fi rms are set to purchase two more from the company’s founders, euros, or $230.9 million. Masotti 2 luxury goods brands, Italy’s La Perla SpA and Samsonite Corp. the Masotti family. said in February that he hoped Equity fund CVC Partners to reach breakeven in 2008. Ralph Lauren will present a selection of styles from its Rugby brand at inked a deal Thursday to ac- Like La Perla, Samsonite has 3 Colette in Paris this September to coincide with the Rugby World Cup. quire the Samsonite Corp. for been busy boosting its fashion about $1.7 billion, or $1.49 a profi le in a drive to become a life- BEAUTY share, including the assumption style brand. Last year, the luggage With memories of her 23-day jail sentence still fresh, Paris Hilton will of debt. CVC is buying the lug- and accessories fi rm inked deals 8 launch her fourth fragrance, Can Can Paris Hilton, in October. gage and travel accessories com- for design collaborations with pany from a group of investors A fall look Alexander McQueen and Matthew What to Watch: A constellation of celebrity fragrances, a multitude of that includes Ares Management from La Williamson for its Black Label 10 new organics and a rise in supplements top fall’s beauty lineup. LLC and Bain Capital Partners Perla. line. The company also bought Classifi ed Advertisements.............................................................19 LLC. The deal should close Lambertson Truex, opened a in the last quarter of the year, Samsonite Black Label store on pending regulatory approval in Madison Avenue and introduced To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is fi rstname. the U.S. and Europe. fashion handbags and footwear. [email protected], using the individual’s name. Neither a price range nor Other products sold under the WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT a time frame for the La Perla Samsonite brand include com- ©2007 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. transaction was disclosed. puter cases, furniture, umbrellas, VOLUME 194, NO. 4. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one Under the terms of the deal, school bags, travel accessories additional issue in January and November, two additional issues in March, May, June, August and December, and three additional issues in February, April, September and October) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division of Advance Alberto Masotti will retain his and children’s products. Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by title as chairman but hand over Samsonite had net losses Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive the role of chief executive of- after the impact of an account- Vice President/COO; Debi Chirichella Sabino, Senior Vice President/CFO; Jill Bright, Executive Vice President/Human Resources. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offi ces. Canada Post Publications Mail fi cer to Jeff Hansen, the presi- ing change of $6.8 million on Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return dent of JH Partners. Masotti and sales of $1.07 billion in the undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6 POSTMASTER: his daughter, Anna Masotti, cur- fiscal year ended Jan. 31. At SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615–5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE rently the company’s creative A piece from Samsonite’s Fashionaire the operating level, it had in- INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit and design director, will retain collection. come of $79.9 million, up from www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. First copy of new seats on La Perla’s board, the $73 million the previous year. subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions and reprint requests, companies said in a statement. kets,” he said in the statement. About 70 percent of the group’s please call 212-630-4274 or fax requests to 212-630-4280. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other “JH Partners is happy to initi- Company offi cials could not be sales come from the Samsonite Fairchild magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list ate a collaboration with Alberto reached for additional comment. brand; American Tourister con- available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA Masotti and his family to forge JH Partners declined to comment tributes 15 percent, licensed 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, additional growth of one of the beyond Thursday’s release. products 13.4 percent, and the OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, most important luxury brands in La Perla, based in the north- Black Label line 1.6 percent. BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR the world,” Hansen said in the ern Italian town of Bologna, is According to the fi rm’s annual CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR statement. The executive said best known for its lingerie. But report, luggage is by far its larg- DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY international expansion and re- over the years, the Masotti family est product category, generating A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. inforcing the brand’s image were has expanded the brand into new 66.8 percent of revenues. top priorities. areas. Alessandro Dell’Acqua, In a statement, CVC said it The equity fund focuses on known for his boudoir aesthetic, was buying Samsonite because consumer products and ser- has designed La Perla’s ready-to- of the fragmented luggage sec- vices, and its holdings include wear collection since 2003, earn- tor’s long-term growth pros- Italian linen brand Frette and ing mixed reviews. pects, particularly in Asia. CVC Quote of the Week fertilizer company Terracycle. In February, Alberto Masotti also believes it can continue to Last month, JH acquired hair told WWD the family-owned move the brand upmarket to a care brand Ouidad for an undis- company had inked a pair of luxury image, “making it highly “We have one client — I can’t say the closed sum.