Victoria’s Secret Update: Will New Owners Help The Struggling Retailer?

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners has bought a majority stake in L Brands’ (LB) Victoria’s Secret brand for $525 million. Sycamore Partners will be the majority owner of Victoria’s Secret with 55% ownership, while L Brand’s Bath & Body Works brand will be spun off into a pubic company.

Through the deal, L Brands will continue to hold a 45% stake in Victoria’s Secret, which was valued at $1.1 billion. L Brands will use the proceeds from the sale, in addition to about $500 million in excess cash, to pay down debt as Victoria’s Secret becomes a private company.

Along with the sale of Victoria’s Secret, Wexner, 82, the founder of L Brands, will step down from his position as CEO and chairman of the Board. Wexner will continue on as a member of the Board as chairman emeritus.

Wexner, 82, has also come under fire for ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, which was imprisoned for sex trafficking of underage women. Wexner has maintained that Epstein defrauded him, Bloomberg reported.

While Bath & Body Works has been a winner for L Brands, it has seen its Victoria’s Secret brand clouded in controversy. The brand has failed to resonate with women, requiring an overhaul of Victoria’s Secret image with new inclusive labels and marketing campaigns.

"We believe this structure will allow Bath & Body Works – which represents the vast majority of 2019 consolidated operating income – to continue to achieve strong growth and receive its appropriate market valuation. The transaction will also allow the company to reduce debt,” Wexner said in a statement.

"We believe the separation of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Victoria’s Secret Beauty and PINK into a privately held company provides the best path to restoring these businesses to their historic levels of profitability and growth,” he added.

Additional leadership changes include the appointment of Nike Coe to vice chairman of the Bath & Body Works Brand Strategy and New Ventures. Coe was previously CEO of Bath & Body Works. Andrew Meslow was named CEO of Bath & Body Works. He previously served as COO of the brand. Meslow will also move to CEO of L Brands and join the company’s Board of Directors. Meslow started his career with L Brands in 2003.

L Brands also provided guidance on its Q4 earnings, saying that it expected a comparable sales decline of 2%, comprised of a 10% comp increase at Bath & Body Works and a decline of 10% at Victoria’s Secret.

Shares of L Brands were up 0.39% as of 10:19 a.m. EST on Thursday.