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The Estée Lauder Companies Acquires TOM FORD; Enterprise Valued at $2.8 Billion
- Client News
- April 28, 2023
Paul, Weiss advised The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in its acquisition of luxury brand TOM FORD. The deal valued the total enterprise at $2.8 billion. The amount paid by The Estée Lauder Companies was funded through a combination of cash, proceeds from commercial paper and $300 million in deferred payments to the sellers.
The deal extends and expands the TOM FORD brand’s longstanding relationship with Italian luxury brand Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. to include a long-term license for all men’s and women’s fashion, as well as accessories and underwear. As part of this transaction, Zegna acquired operations of the TOM FORD fashion business necessary to perform its obligations as licensee. TOM FORD’s current license with Marcolin is also substantially extended, and Tom Ford, founder and CEO of Tom Ford International, continues to serve as the brand’s creative visionary through the end of 2023.
The Paul, Weiss team was led by corporate partners Krishna Veeraraghavan and Laura Turano and intellectual property partner Claudine Meredith-Goujon, and also included corporate partner Caith Kushner; tax partner Robert Holo; executive compensation partner Jarrett Hoffman; real estate partner Peter Fisch; litigation partners Lynn Bayard, Gregory Laufer, Geoffrey Chepiga and Joshua Soven and counsel Steven Herzog, Peter Jaffe and Darren Johnson; restructuring partner Elizabeth McColm; intellectual property counsel Bonnie Chen and Elana Bensoul; antitrust counsel Marta Kelly; international trade counsel Richard Elliott; and environmental counsel William O’Brien.