Strapped

29 January 2020 By Anna Szymanski Follow @Three_Guineas

Parent company L Brands may be the next retailer to try to save itself with deal magic by flogging its floundering lingerie brand. Gap just nixed spinoff plans while J.Crew is angling to IPO Madewell. Retailers hoping to be saved by shuffling the shelves will be sadly mistaken.

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Leslie Wexner, the 82-year-old chief executive of L Brands, is in talks to step down from this role, the Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 29. Wexner has been in charge of the company since 1963 and holds 13.2% of the shares, according to Refinitiv. The newspaper also reports that the company is considering strategic alternatives for Victoria’s Secret, including a possible full or partial sale.

The activist hedge fund Barington Capital sent a letter to the company in March of last year suggesting multiple changes, including a possible spinoff of Victoria’s Secret or an initial public offering of Bath & Body Works. Barington owned less than 1% of the company’s shares at the time.

Gap said on Jan. 16 that it was no longer planning to spin off its Old Navy brand into a separate public company.

J.Crew said in April 2019 that it was considering an IPO of its Madewell brand. It filed the S-1 in September.

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