Liberty House Federated Department stores paid about $200 million for Hawaii retailer Liberty House, the Cincinnati-based company said today.
costs Federated
$200 million
The deal, including
debt, closed todayStar-Bulletin staff
Federated closed the deal today, and officially owns Hawaii's largest retailer, which will be renamed Macy's. The purchase price includes the assumption of debt.
At $200 million, the purchase price is close to the amount offered for Liberty House last year by the Chicago-based owner of Ala Moana Center, which sought to buy the retailer while the company was still in bankruptcy. The bid was dropped.
After months of rumors, Federated announced in June that it was buying Liberty House and converting all 11 department stores and seven specialty stores to the Macy's West brand. At the time of the announcement, Federated did not disclose the purchase price.
Liberty House currently has 3,000 employees, and up to 400 management and office positions will be eliminated by the purchase, including Liberty House President and Director John Monahan.
Federated had entered talks in 1997 to buy Liberty House stores, but the deal fell apart a few months before Liberty House filed Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy in 1998. After three years of courtroom battles between Liberty House's owners, its creditors and the Internal Revenue Service, the company emerged from bankruptcy in March of this year. In an interview, a Macy's West official said the company got a better deal for Liberty House this time around.
With Liberty House stores, Macy's West now operates 136 department and specialty stores.
Sales last year were $4.26 billion. Federated operates more than 450 stores in 34 states, Puerto Rico and, now, Guam, with annual sales of more than $18.4 billion. Its brands include Macy's and Bloomingdale's.