Iconix Brand Group sells Sharper Image for 100 million dollars

London - Iconix Brand Group is set to sell Sharper Image , a brand best known for its lifestyle products and electronic gadgets, for 100 million dollars (81.2 million pounds) in cash to ThreeSixty Group. The Californian-based company, founded in 1999, has licensed the Sharper Image brand from Iconix Brand since 2008, producing slippers, radio controlled drones and home decor under the brand name and is currently the largest licensee of the brand.

"Sharper Image is synonymous with innovation and unique, ’giftable’ product designs offered across a wide variety of consumer product categories," said Kirk McLean, co-founder of ThreeSixty Group in a statement on the acquisition. "As a licensee of the brand for almost ten years, we understand the power of the Sharper Image name and see tremendous opportunity to leverage our platform to continue this tradition of innovation."

As the new brand owner of Sharper Image and its intellectual property assets, ThreeSixty Group aims to increase its strategic investments in the brand's product development, design and marketing while expanding its offering into new categories as well as markets. "We believe strongly that these investments will unlock attractive new growth opportunities for both ThreeSixty and the brand’s impressive array of licensees," added McLean.

Iconix Brand Group aims to use the net proceeds from the sale, plus additional cash to pay down 115 million dollars (93.4 million pounds) of debt. "Sharper Image is a strong and widely recognised brand, however, consistent with the vision we outlined during our recent investor day, Sharper Image did not fit into our go-forward strategy," said John Haugh, Chief Executive Officer of Iconix in a press release.

"After careful consideration, we determined that we could better leverage our resources and generate greater returns by focusing on other areas of the business. This transaction generates a significant return on investment, and allows us to make progress on de-levering the balance sheet, which is a top priority. Portfolio management will continue to be a key focus for the Company; Sharper Image is the second brand that Iconix has sold this year."

Sharper Image was founded in 1977 as a catalogue retailer but grew to run over 300 retail locations before it eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. Afters the brand closed its remaining 86 stores before continuing on as an online and third-party retailer. In 2011, the Sharper Image Brand was acquired by the Iconix Brand for 65.6 million dollars in cash. ThreeSixty Group also established a new brands division to support the development and expansion of the Sharper Image brand.

Photo: Screenshot Sharper Image website