Jack Wills founder joins forces with Liberty owner for buyout

London - Peter Williams, founder of Jack Wills, has joined forces with private equity firm BlueGem, owner of iconic British department store Liberty, in a multi-million pound buyout to take over the high street preppy retailer.

Together, Williams, CEO at Jack Wills, and BlueGem Capital Partners have acquired 100 percent holding of the Jack Wills Group via their jointly held investment vehicle, Union Lifestyle Limited. The two parties bought out Inflexion, the company's long-standing investor, which held a 27 percent stakes in the company. Financial details and terms concerning the acquisition remain undisclosed.

Jack Wills taken over by founder and CEO Peter Williams and BlueGem Private Equity

Terms of the take-over agreement also see Jack Wills chairman Mervyn Davies exit the company. He is to be succeeded by Derek Lovelock, executive chairman of retailer Mamas and Papas, owned by BlueGem, who has joined the board as a non-executive chairman. Confirmation of the acquistion comes close to two months after news of the multi-million pound deal first broke.

The new owners have invested "significant" new capital in the fashion retailer to help facilitate it growth, both within the UK and overseas as Jack Wills faced steep competition on the high street to remain relevant among its core demographic, teenagers. Jack Wills reported a 41.1 per cent decrease in its full year EBITDA to 5.1 million pounds for this year, down from 8.7 million pounds last year. The fashion retailer suffered a blow-back in late 2014, after it decided to shift its distribution to a third-party logistics supplier, which impacted its results up until the first half of this year and help led to a 13.8 million pounds operating loss.

However, Jack Wills stresses that its financial results for the fiscal year to January 31 witnessed "notable improvement," following its founder Williams return to the company as CEO last August. Turnover has increased by 4.1 per cent to 137.4 million pounds, up from 132 million pounds in the last year, as the retailer has brought its distributions and operations back in-house. "The transaction with BlueGem is very exciting and the new capital allows us to continue our international expansion and fast paced revival," said Williams in a statement to WWD.

"We are focused on strengthening and growing our presence in the U.K. and overseas and are opening 13 new stores. We are now shipping online to over 80 countries worldwide. My primary focus, as it has always been, is on innovation with the Jack Wills brand and making very high quality product that we love." Jack Wills opened a total of 4 new stores in 2015/2016, and refitted 5 stores, and currently owns a total of 81 stores. 66 of its wholly-owned stores are in the UK, 8 are in the US, with 5 in Hong Kong and 1 in Singapore and Macau and aims to open its new stores by the end of January, 2017.

"The underlying financial health of Jack Wills is strong," stressed Williams. "The performance of the business during 2015/16 shows a real year of two halves, with a dramatic improvement in profitability in the second half."

Photos: Jack Wills, Facebook