David Simon exited Authentic Brands Group, selling off Simon Property Group’s nearly 10 percent stake in the brand management giant for gross proceeds of nearly $1.2 billion in the first quarter.
That put Simon’s proceeds on the sale of what was once a 12 percent stake in Authentic at $1.45 billion over the past two quarters. The company previously sold shares in the fourth quarter.
“We generated substantial value from the ABG investment and a 7-times multiple on our net invested capital during our short ownership period,” Simon, who is chairman, chief executive officer and president of the real estate firm, told analysts on a conference call on Monday.
Jamie Salter, who founded Authentic in 2010, told WWD that the stock sales to various investors reflected demand in the market and in some transactions valued the company at $17 billion.
According to Salter, the players picking up Simon’s shares were Leonard Green & Partners, General Atlantic, HPS Partners, Jasper Ridge Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Tamesek Holdings.
Even after the sale, Salter and Simon remain in business together as partners in the SPARC joint venture and also JCPenney.
Salter — who has become one of fashion’s foremost dealmakers — teamed with the mall giant and others to buy Aéropostale Inc. out of bankruptcy in 2016. Two years later, Simon rolled its shares in the Aéropostale licensing business into Authentic, building a 5.4 percent stake in the brand management firm that was later built up further.
Authentic now owns scores of brands including Reebok, Brooks Brothers and Barneys New York that all together generate retail sales of $29 billion annually.
David Simon
Courtesy
But Simon — who always says the company’s investments in retail were valuable, but ultimately a sideline business — is decidedly not the nostalgic type.
“There’s nothing that I wouldn’t sell at the right price across the company and worldwide, period, end of story,” Simon said. “It’s very simple. If we got the cash, I know we would find an appropriate investment that would replace the earnings lost. It’s really that simple, or we give it to the shareholders or we buy our stock back. So I am at the point of the highest level of indifference about monetizing an asset.”
In the case of Authentic, Simon said that he simply got an offer that “hit the bid.”
“Most people don’t hit my bid,” he said. “But the only thing that’s core is the company and its people and its balance sheet.”
It’s an approach that’s clearly working for Simon.
In the first quarter, the landlord’s net income rose to $731.7 million from $451.8 million a year earlier. Occupancy in its U.S. malls and premium outlets rose to 95.5 percent as of the end of March, up from 94.4 percent a year earlier. Minimum rents rose 3 percent to $57.53 a square foot.
“We feel like the mall has made a big comeback, physical stores are where it’s happening,” Simon said. “We’re seeing a resurgence and reinvigoration of that whole product.”
But he’s also keeping an eye on the market and ready to pounce on any changes.
“We have $11 billion of liquidity,” Simon said. “It’s realistic to assume we may go through a reasonable slowdown here coming up. That’s when we do our best work. That’s when others get tired and throw in the towel. That’s where we get rejuvenated. Hopefully, we’re rejuvenated now, but this is when we really get motivated.”
