Sycamore Partners
Sycamore Partners is a private equity firm based in New York specializing in retail and consumer investments. The firm has approximately $10 billion in aggregate committed capital. History. Founding. Sycamore Partners was founded in 2011 by Stefan Kaluzny and Peter Morrow. Before Sycamore, Kaluzny was a Managing Partner at Golden Gate Capital and was employed since the firm's inception. Prior to joining Golden Gate, he co-founded Delray Farms, Inc. and also served as its Chief Executive Officer. Kaluzny received a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Morrow served as a  Principal at Golden Gate before co-founding Sycamore. Peter Morrow received a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Brands include: ABU Garcia, All Star, Berkley, Chub, Fenwick, Greys, Hardy, Hodgman, Johnson, JRC, Mitchell, Penn, Pflueger, Sebile, Shakespeare, SpiderWire, Stren, and Ugly Stik. Recent Investments. In 2011, Sycamore acquired a 51% stake in MGF Sourcing, finally completing the total takeover in 2015. In 2012 the firm acquired Talbots for $391 million. In 2013, Sycamore acquired Hot Topic and Torrid for $600 million. In 2014, the firm acquired Coldwater Creek, Jones New York  for $2.2 billion which was then sold to Authentic Brands Group in 2015. Kurt Geiger which was then sold to Cinven in 2015. Sycamore also sold the Stuart Weitzman business to Coach, Inc. in 2015 for $574 million. In 2015, the firm acquired Belk, Inc for $3 billion, and EMP Merchandising, whilst divesting Pathlight Capital In 2017, Sycamore's Nine West Holdings acquired Kasper and Sycamore Partners purchased NBG Home. The firm then went onto win the bid for The Limited, bidding $26.8 million. In June 2017, "Reuters" reported that Staples Inc. had agreed to sell  itself for $6.9 billion. Sycamore also sold over 300 Dollar Express stores to rival, Dollar General. In July 2020, it was announced that Sycamore Partners had made a $1.75B offer to acquire department store chain and competitor JCPenney out of bankruptcy, and would rebrand 250 JCPenney stores to the Belk name, to help the chain compete directly with Macy's. Under the plan, the remaining JCPenney stores will be liquidated. The plan was not selected. In January 2021 Sycamore Partners bought Azamara Cruises from the Royal Caribbean Group.