SEPTEMBER 2007: DEAL WATCH
Another local girl makes good
Competition is stiff in the apparel business and longtime
players are rethinking their product lines. Which is why VF of
Greensboro, N.C., paid $110 million to acquire Portland-based
women’s activewear brand lucy.
After fighting its way back from its own dot-com bust, lucy
built a street-side business featuring its line of
figure-flattering activewear worth $57 million in sales last
year.
Lucy joins hipster jeans-maker Seven for All Mankind, which VF
arranged to pick up at the same time for $775 million, in a new
VF “coalition” (apparently the term
“division” is passé) of contemporary brands.
VF’s other coaltions include outdoor (including brands
such as Northface and Eastpak), sportswear (Nautilus) and
jeanswear (Lee and Wrangler). VF’s acquisitions allow it
to go after a higher-end consumer; contemporary is another word
for someone willing to drop $200 on a pair of jeans and $150 on
the perfect yoga outfit.
The lucy deal comes on the heels of the $175 million
acquisition of Portland’s chi-chi kidswear brand Hanna
Andersson by St. Louis-based Kellwood Company, announced in
June. In both cases, the new owners are expected to keep their
mitts off day-to-day operations (at least for now) and let the
brands continue their expansions. Lucy has 50 retail stores and
counting and Hanna has 18 with more on the drawing
board.
Retail analyst Jennifer Black of Jennifer Black and Associates
in Lake Oswego says competition has squeezed vendors such as
Kellwood, which used to specialize in the in-store private
label lines that have fallen out of favor. Both Hanna and lucy,
with their upscale devotees, growing number of stores and
sizable revenue, made juicy acquisition targets.
If girl-name apparel acquisitions, like celebrity deaths,
happen in threes, we’ve got one more to
go.
CHRISTINA WILLIAMS
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REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
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ANNOUNCED
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BUYER/PARENT (HQ)
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REAL ESTATE (LOCATION) / SELLER (HQ)
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PRICE
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26-Jun
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Westport Capital Partners LLC (CT)
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The Harrison – Condo Conversion Mezzanine Loan
(Portland)
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ND
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27-Jun
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Bill Carpenter and Charles Howard
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office bldg. (Sandy) / Noble Dev. Company IV; Herbert D.
McKillop
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$7.7m
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27-Jun
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HAG Holdings; EZS; Morrison St. Prtn.
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Irwin Paul Building (Portland) / Irwin Leitgeb
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$2.1m
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29-Jun
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Equastone (CA)
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AmberGlen Business Park (Hillsboro) / The Praedium Group
(NY)
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$67.92m
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2-Jul
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ScanlanKemperBard (Portland)
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2 retail properties (CA) / Pacific Union Development
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$94.75m
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3-Jul
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Phillips Edison & Co. (MD)
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Powell Villa (Portland)
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ND
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6-Jul
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CalPERS (CA)
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KOIN Center (Portland)
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$108m
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9-Jul
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ATC Partners LLC (CA)
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Paulson Building (Portland) / Runhill Investment Co.
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$9.2m
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9-Jul
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Charles Padot
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Canyon Ridge apartment complex (Newberg) / Viking
Properties
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$4m
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9-Jul
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D&S McIntyre Living Trust (CA)
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Oak Leaf Manor (Portland) / Linda D. Frye Revocable Living
Trust & Barry Stuffs (CA)
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$2.85m
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11-Jul
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DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners/ Credit Suisse
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Hilton Garden Inn (Lake Oswego) / Sunstone Hotel Investors
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$150.5m
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11-Jul
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David McIntyre and Sally McIntyre
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Oak Leaf Manor Apartments (Portland) / Linda Frye, Barry
Stubbs
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$2.85m
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12-Jul
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DP Partners (NV)
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13.5 acres (Portland)/ Portland Development Commission
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ND
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17-Jul
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Guardian Management LLC (Portland)
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2 apartment bldgs. (AZ)
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ND
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18-Jul
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Gresham Funeral Chapel (Gresham)
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office bldg. (Gresham)/ Parkside Chapel
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$1.34m
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23-Jul
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SHLP Block 46 LLC (Denver)/ Simpson Housing LLP
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Block 46 (Portland)/ Williams and Dame Development
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ND
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25-Jul
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The Bennett Family Trust (Bend)
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industrial bldg. (Portland)/ Weston William McGaa Irr.
Trust
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$2m
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25-Jul
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The Salvation Army (Portland)
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Monterey Plaza office bldg. (Portland)
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$7.4m
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26-Jul
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JPMorgan Asset Management
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Brewery Blocks (Portland)/ Gerding Edlen Development
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$292m
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
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ANNOUNCED
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EXP. CLOSE
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BUYER/PARENT (HQ)
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SELLER (HQ) / PARENT
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PRICE (TERMS)
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29-Jun
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Q1 '08
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Nautilus (Vancouver, WA)
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Land America Health and Fitness (China)
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$72m
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2-Jul
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ND
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Standard Retirement Services (Portland)/ StanCorp Financial
Group Inc.
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MasterPlan Advisors (Portland)/ DPA
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ND
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2-Jul
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Q3 '07
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The Papé Group (Eugene)
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Central California Kenworth (CA)
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ND
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3-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Northwest Pipe Company (Portland)
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Continental Pipe Manufacturing Co. (UT)
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ND (cash)
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3-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Domestica LLC (Portland)
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Sister Suds Cleaning Co. (Portland)
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ND
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5-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Electro Scientific Industries (Portland)
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New Wave Research (CA)
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$36m
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9-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Redwood Empire division (CA)/ Pacific States Industries,
Inc.
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plywood mill (Springfield)/ Weyerhaeuser Co.
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ND
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12-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Trelleborg Sealing Solutions (Sweden)/ Trelleborg
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AFM (Portland)
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ND
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13-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Market Strategies (MI)
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Doxus (Portland)
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ND
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20-Jul
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Q3 '07
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Basic American Foods (CA)
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Harry's Fresh Foods (Portland)
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ND
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24-Jul
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Q4 '07
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New Vision Television (CA)
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KOIN6 (Portland)/ Montecito Broadcast Grp.
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ND
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26-Jul
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Q3 '07
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VF Corp. (NC)
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Lucy Activewear (Portland)
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$110m
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CAPITAL RAISING
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ANNOUNCED
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COMPANY (HQ) / LEADERSHIP
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INVESTOR
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PRICE (TERMS)
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10-Jul
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Oregon Health & Science University (Portland)
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Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Care Foundation
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$5.5m (donation)
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17-Jul
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Pacific Star Comm. (Portland)/ Robert Frisbee, CEO
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Chart Venture Partners; Steelpoint Capital Prt.
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$12.3m (series D)
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23-Jul
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Teseda Corporation (Portland)/ Armagan Akar, CEO
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INTER ACTION
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$1.2m
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List researched by Mark Druskoff
ND=Not
disclosed
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