M&A
Cherokee Acquires Tony Hawk Brands
Looks like Cherokee Inc. is going to be getting a little air with two new brands, Tony Hawk and Hawk, which it acquired for $19 million in cash.
Cherokee, the Sherman Oaks, Calif., company that has a stable of brands that include Cherokee, Carole Little, Liz Lange and Sideout, bought the skateboard-centric brand from Quiksilver in a deal that closed on Jan. 10.
Tony Hawk, a renowned Southern California skateboarder, is the man behind the label that was sold to Quiksilver in 2000. The Tony Hawk brand will continue to be exclusively licensed to Kohl’s.
“We identified the Tony Hawk brand for a variety of reasons, including the opportunity to further expand into the department store and specialty channels of distribution globally,” Cherokee Chief Executive Henry Stupp said. “We expect the transaction to be immediately accretive and look forward to continuing to execute our long-term growth plan that seeks additional new markets for our existing brands, expands our product offerings with our current partners and identifies additional lifestyle brands to add to our portfolio.”
Quiksilver, the Huntington Beach, Calif., company whose labels include Roxy, DC Shoes and its name sake brand, said it plans to use the proceeds from the sale to pay off debt and invest in emerging markets.
In December, Quiksilver announced it sold its snowboard subsidiary Mervin Manufacturing for $58 million.
