Spiegel, one of the oldest names in catalogs and direct marketing, is once more under new management.
After four years under the ownership of Catalog Holdings Inc., the retail brands portfolio of Golden Gate Capital that operates Orchard Brands Corp., Spiegel Brands Inc. has been sold to an investor group led by Chicago-based Granite Creek Partners. Spiegel Brands owns and operates the Spiegel, Newport News, Carabella and AB Lambdin brands.
Golden Gate Capital noted the Spiegel sale when it announced the closing of its Crosstown Traders acquisition from Charming Shoppes, No. 103 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. The Crosstown Traders price tag was $35 million.
The Crosstown Traders purchase continues Golden Gate’s strategy to build
Orchard Brands, says Stefan Kaluzny, managing director at Golden Gate. “In addition to continuing to seek additional acquisitions for Orchard Brands, Catalog Holdings will aggressively pursue multi-channel retail acquisitions where our deep experience allows us to add operational or strategic value. The sale of Spiegel was a natural step in managing our portfolio of brands as we had grown profitability dramatically and produced very attractive investment returns over our four years of ownership.”
Crosstown Traders includes such catalog titles as Old Pueblo Traders, Intimate Appeal, Coward Shoe, Bedford Fair Lifestyles and Willow Ridge.
Orchard Brands, No. 60 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, includes retailers Norm Thomson, Appleseed and Blair Corp.
Divesting Spiegel, although profitable according to Golden Gate, makes sense, says Maris Daugherty, senior consultant at J.C. Williams Group Ltd., a global retail consulting firm. “To me Spiegel is a very good brand,” she says. “But Spiegel is more of a general merchandise brand and Orchard’s retail is more about specialty brands.”
The sale could be good news for Spiegel. “I don’t know Granite Creek, but separating Spiegel out of the Orchard Brands portfolio, and if it becomes truly independent, could give them more attention and possibly more opportunities to grow.”
Granite Creek could not be reached for comment on the purchase.
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