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Fruit of the Loom buys Vanity Fair Intimates
The sale was announced Tuesday. Jackson Plant Manager James Wilson said no changes are planned locally. The Jackson knitting facility employs less than 100 people. The Monroeville operation has about 1,000 employees. VF's intimate apparel business includes such leading brands as Vanity Fair, Lily of France, Vassarette, Bestform and Curvation in the U.S., and Lou, Gemma and Belcor in Europe. "This marks an important chapter in VF's ongoing transformation toward becoming a higher growth, higher margin lifestyle company - and another example of our willingness to take bold steps to enhance total shareholder value," said Mackey J. McDonald, VF's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our intimates business has been a positive and important contributor to VF's success over our 100- plus year history. But the time has come to strategically rebalance our portfolio and to focus our energies and resources on the many growth opportunities across our Jeanswear, Outdoor, Imagewear and Sportswear businesses." Fruit of the Loom plans to operate these businesses as Vanity Fair brands, a wholly-owned subsidiary. Curt Holtz, president of VF's Intimates coalition, and his management team will continue directing current operations from headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. and Igualada, Spain. "We are delighted at the prospect of adding such strong brands to our portfolio," said John Holland, chief executive officer of Fruit of the Loom. "We were most impressed with the heritage, experience and innovative talent of the VF Intimates worldwide team." Fruit of the Loom is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which is controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett. Vanity Fair Intimates' roots go back to the 1930s in south Alabama. The company located in Monroeville in 1937 and opened a plant, Clarke Mills, in Jackson in 1939. Other plants were later opened elsewhere in southwest Alabama. At its height Vanity Fair employed thousands of workers in the area. A sewing plant on Highway 43 in Jackson worked several hundred but closed several years ago. New Era Cap is now located in the facility. VF's Intimates business generated over $800 million in revenues and approximately $50 million in operating income on a global basis in 2006, representing 12 percent and 6 percent of VF's total 2006 revenues and operating income, respectively.
Shares of VF Corp. (NYSE: VF) closed at $76.46 Tuesday, down $3.89.
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