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Lone Pine Capital raises stake in Esprit

By FashionUnited

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Fashion

Hedge fund Lone Pine Capital LLC, Esprit Holdings Ltd’s largest shareholder, increased its stake as the shares plunged 22 percent after the apparel company’s chief executive officer quit last week.Lone Pine bought 1.39 million Esprit shares

at an average HK$10.56 apiece on June 13, as the stock slumped on Chief Executive Officer Ronald Van der Vis’s resignation, according to Hong Kong Stock Exchange data.

Bloomberg
reported how the purchases by Greenwich, Connecticut-based Lone Pine, run by Stephen F. Mandel Jr., brings its holdings in the clothing firm to 13.08 percent from 12.97 percent.

“I don’t think Lone Pine is increasing its stake for the sake of gaining control in the company,” said to Bloomberg Gabriel Chan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG. “As a hedge fund, they are more likely to bargain hunt.”

Shares of Esprit Holdings Ltd fell by nearly a quarter last week, mere hours after the clothing retailer's chief executive resigned, Ronald van der Vis , casting uncertainty over its costly restructuring plan and efforts to revitalize a brand that it admitted last year had "lost its soul". Up to now, Esprit has not announce a replacement for van der Vis, who would have played a key role in the company's HK$18 billion ($2.3 billion) restructuring plan due to be completed by 2015.

The very same day that Esprit´s stock fell by over 22%, the Hong-Kong based fashion brand made public the second executive leave in less than 48 hours: Hans Joachim Korber had resigned as chairman and would be replaced by Raymond Or Ching Fai.

Click here to read more about the latest changes at Esprit Holdings Ltd
Esprit