Ted Baker is bringing its footwear business home.
The British luxury brand announced this week that it has entered into an agreement with Pentland Brands, its footwear licensee since 2001, to acquire the issued share capital of No Ordinary Shoes Limited and No Ordinary Shoes USA LLC — the entities through which Pentland operates Ted Baker’s shoe business.
Pentland will receive 13 million pounds, or $17 million at current exchange, for the sale, plus an adjustment for net assets of No Ordinary Shoes at closing — expected to be between 4 million to 8 million pounds, payable in cash.
Pentland holds the exclusive global license for Ted Baker — which closed 2017 with total sales of 40 million pounds — to manufacture and distribute its footwear. The transaction that sees Ted Baker take its shoe business in-house is expected to close on Dec. 31.
“I would like to thank Pentland for their hard work and Tedication over the last 17 years, during which they have been close friends of Ted Baker and trusted custodians of the brand,” said Ray Kelvin, founder and CEO of Ted Baker. “This is an exciting opportunity for Ted Baker to drive further growth in our footwear business by leveraging our global footprint and infrastructure, in line with our strategy to further develop Ted Baker as a global lifestyle brand.”
The acquisition will be financed by Ted Baker’s existing bank facilities and is expected to improve the earnings of the business starting in fiscal year 2019-2020.
According to Richard Newcombe, global president of the footwear division at Pentland, the firm has helped Ted Baker secure significant growth since it took on the license 17 years ago.
“Since becoming the Ted Baker footwear licensee in 2001, we’ve grown the footwear category by more than 800 percent and increased distribution from 60 retailer partners in eight markets to over 200 in 28 markets,” Newcombe said. “We have worked closely with the team at Ted to ensure our strategies are perfectly aligned and that the product captures what makes Ted Baker such a special and unique brand. We take pride in the role our team has played in the brand’s continued success, and we wish everyone at Ted Baker all the very best for the future.”
