Bendon acquires Frederick's of Hollywood license

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Jul 27, 2017

Bendon Limited has announced it has acquired FOH Online Corp. (FOH), the exclusive global online licensee of Frederick's of Hollywood.

The acquisition will give Bendon control of development and online sales of all FOH intimates products. Categories included are sleepwear, lounge wear, swim, swim accessories and costume products.

The acquisition of FOH was part of a transaction designed to pay back FOH's debt to Bendon. Bendon was one of the founders of FOH and received a management fee for overseeing the brand's online operations.

FOH is a lucrative asset for Bendon. FOH reported its direct-to-consumer online sales for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2017 were approximately $18 million.

The FOH license for selling Frederick's of Hollywood online has an initial term that runs through December of 2020. There is a built in right to renew the license for five year periods up to a maximum of ten times.

Bendon has been busy lately recently announcing a merger with Naked Brand Group to become wholly owned subsidiaries of a newly formed Australian holding company, Holdco.

Bendon will add FOH to its other licenses and private brands which include Heidi Klum Intimates and Swimwear and Stella McCartney Lingerie and Swimwear. Klum herself is the Creative Director of the company's flagship intimates line.

Justin Davis-Rice, Executive Chairman of Bendon and Director of Naked said of the FOH deal:  "We believe the acquisition of this high growth e-commerce business provides a strong platform for the next phase of online growth for our business."

Davis-Rice continued explaining that Holdco's goals with acquiring FOH are to further expand the Frederick's of Hollywood brand across the US. They will do this by leveraging their "well-established global wholesale and retail distribution channels," which will become stronger under the merger.

The acquisition of FOH does not affect the ultimate outcome of the merger of Naked and Bendon. It does however allow for extended filing of SEC documents which will push the scheduled completion of the deal into the fourth quarter of this year.