Jessica Simpson is on the cusp of buying back her clothing brand from a struggling licensing company that is at risk of bankruptcy, The Post has learned.
The 40-year-old former pop singer and her mother, Tina Simpson, are working with boutique investment bank Threadstone to raise cash to buy back the Jessica Simpson Collection of licensed brands. The company, according to a source.
William Sweedler, who launched Sequential a decade ago, resigned as executive chairman over the weekend “to pursue other matters,” according to regulatory affairs. Sweedler’s resignation, the filing said, “did not involve disagreements with the company on any matters related to its operations, policies or practices.”
Shares of sequential brands – whose other brands include Jose Jeans, Ellen Tracy and Caribbean Joe – were off 35 percent in recent Tuesday afternoon trades at $ 17.66.
Sequential Brands bought Jessica Simpson’s 62.5 percent stake in 2015 from Vince Kemuto for $ 117 million, which originally bought it for $ 15 million. According to a source close to the company, Sectional grew rapidly, surpassing half a billion dollars with billions of dollars of sales before the epidemic.
Unlike a group of celebrity brands that launched around the same time in 2005 and a line in Walmart – Simpson’s brand with Max Azaria for the collaboration of Mandy Moore’s Mebalum line, Lindsay Lohan’s leggings, 6126, and Miley Cyrus Collaborated for .
The Jessica Simpson Collection – a collaboration between the singer, her mom and sister Ashlee Simpson – featuring a children’s line, home furnishings and shoes. It has been sold at the retail outlets of Messies, Nordstrom and Dillard.
But while the “With You” singer is actively promoting her line – Recently an ad campaign in September Entertainers with their daughters – Sectional is facing increasing financial problems as an epidemic at department stores crushes the business. Sequential recently reported a debt burden of $ 463 million.
On Friday, Marquee Bowen, a distressed retail specialist and former managing director of investment bank Hulion Locke, on the board of Sequoyl, KKR, a second-lending firm, effective immediately – a move that insiders said Said that preparing for a preparation looks like a possible bankruptcy filing.
Sequential declined to comment on Tuesday.
Sequential sold another high-profile brand – Martha Stewart’s house empire – for $ 215 million in 2019 – mostly because the brand was priced above the company’s cost, as The Post reported.
WWD first reported that Simpson is in talks with Threadstone to raise capital
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