Hanesbrands Inc. is set to acquire Pacific Brands Ltd. in a transaction valued at $800 million.
Pacific Brands is the number one underwear and intimates firm in Australia. With the deal, Hanesbrands is gaining control of Bonds, the number one men’s and women’s underwear brand in the basics category, and Berlei, a leading premium bra brand. The boards of both publicly-traded firms have approved the transaction.
According to Hanesbrands, the deal is immediately accretive to the firm’s adjusted earnings per share and will deliver an after-tax internal rate of return in the mid-teens.
Richard A. Noll, Hanesbrands chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Pacific Brands is a natural addition to the Hanesbrands portfolio with its strong market-leading brands that will be complemented by our global supply chain.”
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The deal represents Hanesbrands’ sixth transaction over the past three years.
Noll said that acquisitions and the firm’s Innovate-to-Elevate initiatives over the last ten years have “tripled operating profits” and expanded the company from a $4 billion company operating mostly in the U.S. to a “$7 billion global underwear and activewear powerhouse spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.”
Pacific Brands has three business units: Underwear, Sheridan, and Tontine & Dunlop. Hanesbrands said it plans to divest the Tontine pillow business and Dunlop Flooring business, as neither one is core to Pacific Brands.
Hanesbrands noted that the core Underwear division accounts for three-fourths of sales and includes underwear, socks, hosiery, babywear and outerwear. It has a three-year compound annual sales growth rate of 7 percent.
The Sheridan business is a quarter of the core business, and markets luxury linens, towels, bedding accessories and loungewear. It also recently launched babywear.
Hanesbrands said it will “seek to retain the Pacific Brands’ senior management team to run the business after the acquisition.”