Unanimously Reiterates Commitment to George Feldenkreis Transaction and Reaffirms Intention to Recommend that All Perry Ellis Shareholders Vote FOR the Feldenkreis Transaction
Notes That Re-Engaging with Randa at the Price Offered is Not in the Best Interest of Shareholders
MIAMI, July 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Special Committee of the Perry Ellis International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PERY ) (“Perry Ellis” or the “Company”) Board of Directors, which is composed of the independent directors, today reaffirmed its intention to recommend that all Perry Ellis shareholders vote FOR the Feldenkreis transaction.
As previously announced on June 16, 2018, Perry Ellis’ Board of Directors, acting on the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee of independent directors and with the support of independent financial and legal advisors, unanimously approved a $437 million transaction to become a private company through an acquisition led by George Feldenkreis. Under the terms of the Feldenkreis merger agreement, Perry Ellis shareholders will receive $27.50 per share in cash upon closing. The purchase price represents a premium of approximately 21.6 percent to Perry Ellis’ unaffected closing stock price on February 5, 2018, the last trading day prior to George Feldenkreis announcing his proposal to take the Company private.
The Special Committee noted that Randa’s July 1, 2018 proposal to acquire 100% of the fully diluted common stock of Perry Ellis for $28.00 per share in cash was not solicited and is substantially similar to a non-binding $27.75 per share proposal made by Randa during the Special Committee’s strategic review process. The Special Committee unanimously determined, after consultation with its legal and financial advisors, that the Randa proposal does not satisfy the requirements in the Feldenkreis merger agreement for granting due diligence access or commencing negotiations with respect to a competing takeover proposal. In arriving at its determination, the Special Committee considered, in relation to a 1.8% potential price increase from Randa’s unsolicited proposal, among other things, that:
- the proposal is highly-conditional, non-binding and insufficient in terms of value and certainty of the provided debt financing commitments, as well as the lack of evidence of sufficient cash equity on hand;
- the additional timing to enter into and complete a potential transaction with Randa;
- the inclusion of an unprecedented 3% fee payable by the Company to Randa if shareholders vote down the transaction, compared to no such penalty if shareholders vote down the Feldenkreis merger; and
- a number of other terms affecting shareholder value or certainty are inferior, including termination fees, additional risks to closing, and the lack of appraisal rights for shareholders.
Based on the totality of the circumstances considered in comparison to the potential for a slight price improvement, the Special Committee concluded that re-engaging with Randa at the price offered was not in the best interest of shareholders.
The Special Committee continues to unanimously believe that the Feldenkreis merger agreement is in the best interest of all Perry Ellis shareholders.
As previously announced, the Feldenkreis transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar year 2018, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and approvals, including approval by Perry Ellis shareholders (including a majority of the shares owned by shareholders other than the Feldenkreis family or any officers or directors of the Company), receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
PJ SOLOMON is serving as financial advisor to the Special Committee, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Akerman LLP are serving as the Special Committee’s legal counsel, and Innisfree M&A Incorporated is serving as the Company’s proxy solicitor.
About Perry Ellis International Perry Ellis International, Inc. is a leading designer, distributor and licensor of a broad line of high quality men's and women's apparel, accessories and fragrances. The Company's collection of dress and casual shirts, golf sportswear, sweaters, dress pants, casual pants and shorts, jeans wear, active wear, dresses and men's and women's swimwear is available through all major levels of retail distribution. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, owns a portfolio of nationally and internationally recognized brands, including: Perry Ellis®, An Original Penguin® by Munsingwear®, Laundry by Shelli Segal®, Rafaella®, Cubavera®, Ben Hogan®, Savane®, Grand Slam®, John Henry®, Manhattan®, Axist®, Jantzen® and Farah®. The Company enhances its roster of brands by licensing trademarks from third parties, including: Nike® for swimwear, Callaway®, PGA TOUR®, Jack Nicklaus® for golf apparel and Guy Harvey® for performance fishing and resort wear. Additional information on the Company is available at http://www.pery.com .
Safe Harbor Statement We caution readers that the forward-looking statements (statements which are not historical facts) in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations rather than historical facts and they are indicated by words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “budget,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “guidance,” “indicate,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possibly,” “potential,” “predict,” “probably,” “proforma,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” or “will” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon and similar words or phrases or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Perry Ellis’ strategic operating review, growth initiatives and internal operating improvements intended to drive revenues and enhance profitability, the implementation of Perry Ellis’ profitability improvement plan and Perry Ellis’ plans to exit underperforming, low growth brands and businesses. We have based such forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include: general economic conditions, a significant decrease in business from or loss of any of our major customers or programs, anticipated and unanticipated trends and conditions in our industry, including the impact of recent or future retail and wholesale consolidation, recent and future economic conditions, including turmoil in the financial and credit markets, the effectiveness of our planned advertising, marketing and promotional campaigns, our ability to contain costs, disruptions in the supply chain, including, but not limited to these caused by port disruptions, disruptions due to weather patterns, our future capital needs and our ability to obtain financing, our ability to protect our trademarks, our ability to integrate acquired businesses, trademarks, trade names and licenses, our ability to predict consumer preferences and changes in fashion trends and consumer acceptance of both new designs and newly introduced products, the termination or non-renewal of any material license agreements to which we are a party, changes in the costs of raw materials, labor and advertising, our ability to carry out growth strategies including expansion in international and direct-to-consumer retail markets; the effectiveness of our plans, strategies, objectives, expectations and intentions which are subject to change at any time at our discretion, potential cyber risk and technology failures which could disrupt operations or result in a data breach, the level of consumer spending for apparel and other merchandise, our ability to compete, exposure to foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, the impact to our business resulting from the United Kingdom’s referendum vote to exit the European Union and the uncertainty surrounding the terms and conditions of such a withdrawal, as well as the related impact to global stock markets and currency exchange rates; possible disruption in commercial activities due to terrorist activity and armed conflict, actions of activist investors and the cost and disruption of responding to those actions, and other factors set forth in Perry Ellis’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements also may include information concerning the proposed merger transaction, including unexpected costs or liabilities, delays due to regulatory review, certain closing conditions (including the committed financing) may not be timely satisfied or waived, litigation may be commenced and general and business conditions may change. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and factors relating to the proposed transaction, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in Perry Ellis’ filings with the SEC, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Perry Ellis’ control. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are valid only as of the date they were made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.
Important Additional Information And Where To Find It The Company, its directors and certain of its executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Company stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. The Company intends to file a proxy statement and WHITE proxy card with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with any such solicitation of proxies from Company stockholders. COMPANY STOCKHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO READ ANY SUCH PROXY STATEMENT AND ACCOMPANYING WHITE PROXY CARD WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Information regarding the ownership of the Company’s directors and executive officers in Company stock, restricted stock and options is included in their SEC filings on Forms 3, 4, and 5, which can be found through the Company’s website (http://investor.pery.com), or through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Information can also be found in the Company’s other SEC filings, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended February 3, 2018 and the Form 10-K/A filed by the Company with the SEC on June 1, 2018. More detailed and updated information regarding the identity of potential participants, and their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement and other materials to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. Stockholders will be able to obtain any proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement and other documents filed by the Company with the SEC for no charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies will also be available at no charge at the Company’s website at http://investor.pery.com, by writing to Perry Ellis International, Inc., at 3000 N.W. 107 Avenue, Miami, FL 33172.
Certain Participant Information In accordance with Rule 14a-12(a)(1)(i) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), the following directors, executive officers and other employees of Perry Ellis are deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Perry Ellis’ shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and, as of the date hereof, beneficially own the amount of shares of Perry Ellis’ common stock, $0.01 par value per share, indicated adjacent to his or her name: (i) Perry Ellis directors: Joe Arriola (15,590 shares), Jane E. DeFlorio (22,710 shares), George Feldenkreis (1,716,862 shares), Oscar Feldenkreis (1,223,329 shares), Bruce J. Klatsky (21,723 shares), Michael W. Rayden (21,723 shares), and J. David Scheiner (26,205 shares), and (ii) Perry Ellis executive officers and other employees: David Enright (31,706 shares), Jorge Narino (14,988 shares), Stanley Silverstein (73,666 shares) and John Voith (64,624 shares). The business address for each person is c/o Perry Ellis International, Inc., 3000 N.W. 107th Avenue, Miami, FL 33172. More detailed and updated information regarding the identity of potential participants, and their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement, including the schedules and appendices thereto, and other materials to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction.
Contacts
Investor: Innisfree M&A Incorporated Arthur Crozier / Jennifer Shotwell / Scott Winter 212-750-5833 or Media: Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher Ed Trissel / Sharon Stern / Jeff Kauth 212-355-4449
