VF Corp completes sale of Nautica to Authentic Brands Group

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
May 1, 2018

VF Corporation has completed the sale of its Nautica brand business to Authentic Brands Group, LLC (ABG), owner of brands including Jones New York and Juicy Couture.

VF Corp announced the sale in February, saying that the brand was out of line with VF's financial aspirations. At the time, VF Chairman, CEO and President Steven Rendle said in a release, "We came to a point where [Nautica] didn’t necessarily hit all of our strategic touch points financially."

When ABG was revealed as the brand's purchaser in March, Rendle added that the highest priority in VF's global business strategy "is to actively manage our brand portfolio to ensure that its composition positions us to accelerate growth," going on to suggest that ABG would be better positioned to "unlock [Nautica's] value."

Rendle made no additional comment at the completion of the sale today.

Nautica is the latest sale for VF, which sold Jan-Sport in Q4 of last year. As part of its active portfolio management, VF has also been buying new brands, including Icebreaker, Icon Health & Fitness, Inc. and Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., along with its brands Dickies and Workrite.

VF first shed light on its planned portfolio changes in 2017 when it published its second five-year plan in March of last year. The plan set forth strategy and expectations for growth, focusing on e-commerce and Asia.

Specific financial terms of the Nautica sale were not disclosed, although VF recorded a $104 million goodwill write off for Nautica in Q3.