Saks Incorporated and Dickson Concepts Enter Into Strategic Investment Alliance.Business Editors & High Tech Writers
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2000
Saks Incorporated Saks Incorporated (NYSE: SKS) is a Fortune 500 operator of department stores in the United States. While currently headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, the company is in the process of moving to New York City. Saks Incorporated was formerly known as Proffitt's, Inc. (NYSE NYSE
See: New York Stock Exchange :SKS SKS Szkolny Klub Sportowy (Polish: School Sports Club)
SKS Some Kind Soul
SKS Samozariadnyia Karabina Simonova (Russian military carbine)
SKS Vojens Lufthavn, Denmark - Jojens ) and Dickson Cyber Concepts Limited ("Dickson Cyber") are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic investment agreement whereby Saks Direct, the direct business unit of Saks Incorporated, and Dickson Cyber have swapped shares equal to 3% of their respective equity capital. The transaction will be effected by a straight exchange of equity with no exchange of cash.
As part of the agreement, Mr. R. Brad Martin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saks Incorporated, will be appointed to the Board of Dickson Cyber, and Dr. Dickson Poon Dickson Poon (潘迪生 Poon Dik Sang) is a Hong Kong business man in the luxury goods retailing sector. He owns various companies including Harvey Nichols and S.T. Dupont. He was previously married to actress Michelle Yeoh. , Group Executive Chairman of Dickson Concepts (International) and Dickson Cyber, will be appointed to the Board of Saks Direct.
In addition to their mutual equity investments, Saks Direct and Dickson Cyber will explore ways to leverage their respective businesses. Both parties are extremely excited about the business potential and synergies offered by this strategic investment agreement. By harnessing the formidable strength of Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue is a chain of upscale American department stores that is owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the elite luxury department store market with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New and the leading position of Dickson Concepts in Asia, the two companies believe that they have formed a partnership in the luxury dot.com sector that will lead major international markets. The significant visibility and presence of the two companies in major retail locations and physical shopping areas across North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and Asia will enable Dickson Cyber and Saks Direct to leverage this brandname recognition on a global basis through cyberspace.
Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Dickson Poon said, "We are extremely pleased to be linking up with the Saks group through this strategic investment agreement. We believe that it represents the beginning of a significant strategic alliance between our two companies which will provide us with tremendous opportunities to develop a successful global e-tailing business."
Mr. R. Brad Martin added, "Dickson Cyber Concepts and Saks Direct are ideal partners to develop and grow a successful international e-commerce business. We are delighted to join with the innovative and well-regarded Dickson organization in this very important venture. This partnership is a great opportunity to leverage and extend the Saks Fifth Avenue brand and one that will drive value creation for our company."
Each party has agreed to mutual "put" rights in the event that the other party's common stock is not publicly traded after a defined period of time. These rights give each party the ability to unwind the equity swap Equity swap
A swap in which the cash flows exchanged are based on the total return on some stock market index and an interest rate (either a fixed rate or floating rate). Related: Interest rate swap. if their investment is not adequately liquid.
About Saks Direct
Saks Direct is a business unit of Saks Incorporated and contains the operations of Saks Fifth Avenue's catalog and Internet retail businesses. Saks Direct's catalogs - Folio and Bullock & Jones - produce annual revenues in excess of $120 million. Saks Direct's new Internet See Web 2.0 and Internet2. business, saksfifthavenue.com, will be launched in the summer of 2000. saksfifthavenue.com has assembled a team of over 90 persons with extensive backgrounds in merchandising, marketing, technology and operations. That team is also supported by the entire New York-based Saks Fifth Avenue organization. By extending the luxury "Saks Fifth Avenue" brand to the Internet, saksfifthavenue.com hopes to position itself as a global leader in luxury e-tailing. saksfifthavenue.com will mirror the Saks Fifth Avenue shopping experience through its outstanding merchandise selections and premier service. saksfifthavenue.com will offer fashion authority through its online offerings of high-end apparel, accessories, shoes, cosmetics, gifts, children's and related merchandise.
Saks Fifth Avenue, a part of the $6.4 billion Saks Incorporated group, operates 61 luxury department stores This is a list of department stores. In the case of department store groups the location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores. in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , with its first international store scheduled to open in 2001 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (sä`dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. . The "Saks Fifth Avenue" brand, which is legally protected in Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. and worldwide, is synonymous with synonymous with
adjective equivalent to, the same as, identical to, similar to, identified with, equal to, tantamount to, interchangeable with, one and the same as high-end luxury retailing. saksfifthavenue.com will benefit from the valuable vendor relationships and customer loyalty enjoyed by Saks Fifth Avenue.
About Dickson Cyber
Dickson Cyber is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dickson Concepts (International) Limited and acts as the vehicle through which Dickson Concepts undertakes initiatives in the fast-growing e-commerce and e-tailing business sectors.
With an initial investment of approximately $45 million, Dickson Cyber will be officially launching its innovative "clicks and bricks" concept, DicksonCyber.com and Dickson CyberExpress, by October 2000. DicksonCyber.com, which currently comprises six lifestyle portals, will offer consumers a wide range and depth of merchandise through the introduction of the category killer Category Killer
Large companies that put less efficient and highly specialized merchants out of business.
Category killers can attain this status by being cheaper, easier, bigger, or more popular than the competition. concept. The six portals that will be represented are comprised of `Entertainment World' (Music, CDs, Books, and Video), `Sports World' (Sports news and Sporting goods Noun 1. sporting goods - sports equipment sold as a commodity
commodity, trade good, good - articles of commerce
sports equipment - equipment needed to participate in a particular sport ), `E-World' (Computers, Mobile Phones and Electronic and Audio Visual equipment), `Kiddy World' (Toys, Games and Education), `iCosmetic World' (Cosmetics, Fragrances and Skin Care), and `Fashion World' (Fashion news). The first two portals, Entertainment World and Sports World, were launched in June 2000 with the others due to be soft launched during July and August.
Dickson CyberExpress is a complementary hi-tech physical environment to be located in the Kowloon Station in Hong Kong, which will comprise the same six "worlds" as DicksonCyber.com. Its innovative design and the latest broadband technology allowing for high-speed Internet access and data transfer will create an exciting and uniquely interactive shopping experience for consumers. Dickson Cyber's holding company, Dickson Concepts, is the largest retailer (200 shops) and wholesaler of luxury goods in Asia with its own distribution/fulfillment centers in major markets such as Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
In Southeast Asia, Dickson Concepts represents on an exclusive basis an unparalleled portfolio of world-renowned brands such as Bulgari, Polo/Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Kenneth Cole, Bertolucci, Coach, Tod's, Chopard, Charles Jourdan, Comtesse, Fratelli Rossetti, French Connection, Guy Laroche, Nicole Fahri, S.T. Dupont and Warner Bros BROS Brothers
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BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . Studio Store. Dickson Concepts also operates two Seibu department stores in Hong Kong and one in Shenzhen, China.