WSS

Branded athletic footwear retailer with locations primarily in Southern California (at time of investment) that are typically located in Hispanic neighborhoods

Headquarters

Gardena, CA

Industry

Consumer retail

Investment Type

Participating Preferred Equity

Investment

$18 million

Status

Acquired by Foot Locker

Transaction Dynamics

New management team identified several value-creation initiatives but needed capital to execute the plan.
Our structured equity (1) provided sufficient capital for the team to executive on the value-creation initiatives and (2) allowed the founder and management team to retain significant ownership.

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Investment Thesis

Fast Growing Target Consumer – Buyer power among Hispanics has grown tremendously and the growth of athletic footwear has exceeded non-athletic footwear
Differentiated Concept – Hispanic consumers are not well served by traditional U.S. retailers
Long Operating History of 30+ Years
Strong Management – CEO has decades of footwear retail experience and previously was the CEO of Champs Sports and Foot Locker

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Post-Closing Initiatives

Expanded to Texas – entered Texas market shortly after our investment with significant opportunity for further expansion
Added Omni-Channel – developed mobile-phone application & added e-commerce
Implemented ERP System

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