Building on the ongoing growth of its popular "UNIQLO" fashion clothing brand, FAST RETAILING (FR) now offers a takeover bid (TOB) to acquire all shares of LINK THEORY HOLDINGS (LTH), a company that continues to expand its own worldwide fashion clothing brand, "THEORY". FR intends to make LTH a wholly owned subsidiary. FR acquired the US-owned "THEORY" brand in September 2003 in cooperation with the former LINK INTERNATIONAL (now LTH), the then-domestic Japanese licensee of the brand. FR then took an equity stake in the establishment of LINK THEORY HOLDINGS in January 2004, making LTH a subsidiary of FR, but the companies have enjoyed no tangible business dealings outside of the joint acquisition of "THEORY". The current move on FR's part to make LTH a wholly owned subsidiary targets greater synergy for both companies--they maintain that in addition to the leveraging of FR's rich capital resources, the TOB will enable each company to utilize the other to shore up business bases which have up to now been relatively weak; namely, the US for FR and Europe and China for LTH.
photo:THEORY 09 spring