Deb Shops checks out of Nasdaq

Posted Jul 27th 2007 3:44PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Private Equity, Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Bear Stearns Cos (BSC)

Despite all the gloomy talk about private equity, we are still seeing deals. For example, today Deb Shops (NASDAQ: DEBS) announced that it is selling out for $27.25 or $395 million. The buyer is Lee Equity Partners and the debt financing will come from Barclays Capital.

Deb Shops is a specialty retailer with a focus on juniors (both regulator and plus sizes). There are 337 stores across 42 states.

And it looks like a good deal. After all, the valuation is about one times revenues.

What's more, Lee Equity is bringing Allen Questrom on as the non-executive chairman. He is a highly experienced retail executive and was formerly the CEO of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP).

Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) advised Deb Shops on the transaction. As for Lee Equity, it used the services of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC).

In today's trading, Deb Shops' shares are up only $0.18 to $26.86.

To see some other recent M&A deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: allen questrom, AllenQuestrom, bsc, Deb Shops, DebShops, fashion, jcp, leh, private equity, PrivateEquity, retail, specialty retail, specialty retailers, SpecialtyRetail, SpecialtyRetailers