Guess? and Authentic Brands Group Ink $1.4 Billion Take-Private Deal

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Fashion giant Guess?, Inc. (NYSE: GES) and Authentic Brands Group, a global brand development and licensing platform, have announced an agreement and strategic partnership that will take private Guess?, the longtime lifestyle brand and global fashion mainstay. In a deal valued at $1.4 billion, Authentic advised that it will own a 51 percent stake in a newly formed entity that will own and license substantially all of the company’s intellectual property (IP) as well as assume the majority of Guess?'s product licensing agreements, with the remaining 49 percent of the entity to be owned by Guess? co-founders Maurice and Paul Marciano, Nicolai Marciano, and Guess? CEO Carlos Alberini. Under terms of the agreement, the Guess? operating entity and its subsidiaries will be taken private and be wholly owned by the current management team, and the operating company will continue under its existing leadership and structure.