Lululemon to buy back 1 million shares from Advent

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Mar 29, 2019

On the back of a strong 2019 forecast, Lululemon Athletica Inc. is diving head first into its own stock. 

 
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company announced on Thursday that it has agreed to repurchase one million shares of its own common stock in a private transaction with Advent International for approximately $163 million. 
 
The shares will be repurchased under the company’s $500 million share repurchase authorization and funded with cash on hand. Following this transaction with Advent, Lululemon will still have $337 million shares left on the company’s share repurchase authorizations.

“We appreciate Advent’s ongoing partnership and continued guidance over the years as the company has grown considerably. Lululemon is stronger today because of our work together, and we are pleased to complete this transaction in a strong financial position,” said Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald, in a news statement. 
 
Advent has equally sold an additional four million shares of the company’s common stock pursuant to Rule 144. 
 
Prior to these sales, Advent owned approximately 10.1 million shares of Lululemon common stock. It first invested in Lululemon in 2005. 
 
“Helping the team execute on its long-term goals is precisely what we aim to achieve in any investment and this partial sale is consistent with our planned monetization of our interest in lululemon,” explained David Mussafer, Chairman and Managing Partner at Advent International and Lead Director of lululemon’s Board of Directors.
 
“We remain actively involved with the company as investors and board members and look forward to its continued success under Calvin McDonald’s incredible leadership.”
 
On Wednesday, Lululemon Athletica Inc. announced better-than-expected fourth quarter and full year results, which shot shares up. 
 
For the full fiscal 2019, Lululemon expects net revenue to be in the range of $3.7 billion to $3.74 billion, based on a similar low-double digit comparable sales increase on a constant dollar basis. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $4.48 to $4.55 for the full year.