Sycamore Partners offers $1.75B for JCPenny with plan to grow Belk
New York Post | July 27, 2020
Big Apple-based Sycamore Partners has offered $1.75 billion to buy the 118-year-old department store chain with plans to merge it with Belk, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post.
Sycamore sees JCPenney helping to revive the North Carolina-based Belk, a struggling department store chain with 300 stores located mostly in the South, the source said. Sycamore owns Belk, as well as retailers Talbots, Staples, The Limited.
Both JCPenney and Belk, founded in 1888, have suffered from declining sales amid competition from fresher brands and online retailers like Amazon. JCPenney was also saddled with $5 billion in debt when it filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Sycamore plan involves rebranding some 250 JCPenney stores to Belk stores in markets where the two retailers don’t overlap.