Li & Fung AME acquisition to establish LF USA

05 Nov '07

4 min read

Hong Kong-based global consumer goods exporter Li & Fung Limited announced that it has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of American Marketing Enterprises Inc, known as AME and its related companies.

AME is the premier children's entertainment character licensed private label sleepwear company in the United States.

Mr. William K Fung, Group Managing Director of Li & Fung Limited, commented, “Our US onshore business has grown significantly since its inception a few years ago.

After our previous successful acquisitions, including Regatta, Oxford Womenswear Group and the Rosetti handbag business, we are pleased to have this opportunity to further expand our portfolio.

We believe this acquisition will establish LF USA, the US subsidiary of Li & Fung, as a leader in the children's sleepwear business.”

Acquisition of American Marketing Enterprises:
The total purchase consideration is approximately US$128 million and will be financed by Li & Fung's internal cash reserves. Completion of the acquisition is expected to take place by end of November.

American Marketing Enterprises' brand portfolio holds over 40 licenses with top licensors and includes Spiderman, Hanna Montana, High School Musical, Cars, Dora the Explorer, Barbie, Disney Princess and many other leading evergreen properties.

AME designs, sources and markets its brand portfolio to leading US retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kohl's Target, Sears Holdings, Toys"R"Us and J.C. Penney.

Mr. Bruce Rockowitz, President of Li & Fung (Trading) Limited, said, “Undoubtedly, the acquisition will establish LF USA as the leader in the children's licensed sleepwear industry, providing greater breadth of licenses and depth of customer relationships through the use of a portfolio of evergreen character and entertainment licenses.

The acquisition will also provide significant synergies with Briefly Stated Holdings Inc, which we acquired in 2005, and its extensive portfolio of cartoon character licenses. We expect the acquisition will help accelerate the future growth of our business in the United States.”

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