Naked Brand and Bendon Limited propose merger agreement

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jan 13, 2017

Naked Brand and Bendon Limited on Friday announced a letter of intent for a proposed merger. If the merger is accepted, Naked CEO Carole Hochman will become Chief Creative Officer of the company, and she will serve on the company Board alongside Bendon Executive Chairman Justin Davis-Rice and several additional members to be identified and nominated by Bendon.

 
In addition, key employees of Bendon will be offered employment with the Company, to be effective upon completion of the Merger.
 
Both companies are expected to benefit from the merger. Naked is expected to gain Bendon’s established global wholesale and retail distribution channels, and Bendon is expected to gain immediate access to the US capital markets enabling the business to grow globally.

Hochman stated, “We are extremely excited about the potential of this proposed merger, and look forward to capitalizing on Bendon’s scale and expertise to further expand the Naked brands. The Bendon team has built a phenomenal business, and by leveraging their infrastructure, product and geographic knowledge, and talent, we believe that we can accelerate our growth in the innerwear fashion and lifestyle market.”
 
Hochman joined Naked as CEO, Chief Creative Officer and Chairwoman in 2014. In 2015, the brand launched men’s and women’s loungewear and underwear collections, and it collaborated with NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade on an innerwear collection. Naked also partnered with HSN for an exclusive Comfortably You collection.
 
Bendon is a global leader in intimate apparel and swimwear with a 70-year history of products under the brands Bendon, Bendon Man, Davenport, Evollove, Fayreform, Hickory, Lovable (in Australia and New Zealand) and Pleasure State, and licensed brands Heidi Klum Intimates and Swimwear and Stella McCartney Lingerie and Swimwear.

The Auckland-based company distributes its brands globally through over 4,000 doors across 34 countries including 60 Bendon retail and outlet stores in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. For the fiscal year ended in 2016, Bendon generated $100 million in net sales.
 
Davis-Rice commented, “This is a transformative merger that will create a powerful creative, marketing, operational and capital markets platform. As a publicly traded company in the U.S., we expect to have an opportunity to accelerate our growth and strengthen our position as a global leader in intimate apparel, swimwear, innerwear fashion and lifestyle brands through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions.”
 
Naked and Bendon will seek shareholder approval assuming the merger is approved.