(
)
If you think the clothes at Michael Kors are pricey, try buying a piece of the company.
The New York fashion label — whose black-clad founder and namesake also moonlights as a tough judge on the “Project Runway” TV reality series — has sold a minority stake to a group of investors in a deal that values the brand at a whopping $2.5 billion, The Post has learned.
As first reported by The Post on June 26, investors had been elbowing each other like crazed shoppers at a sample sale to buy a piece of the privately held company, which hired Morgan Stanley this spring to raise $500 million in growth capital.
The private placement was completed late last month, sources said, and the cash will be used to fuel an international growth spurt that will roll out fancy boutiques on posh shopping strips worldwide while raising the brand’s profile in Europe and Asia.
An IPO could come as soon as spring 2012, according to a source.
Among the investors who ponied up cash in exchange for preferred convertible shares in Michael Kors were billionaire fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and members of his inner circle, as well as sovereign wealth funds, the source added.
That’s despite the fact that the deal values Michael Kors at a staggering price — upwards of 25 times the label’s Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. By comparison, Italian fashion giant Prada’s IPO this spring fetched a valuation of about 20 times Ebitda.
“This is luxury’s day,” said Richard Kestenbaum of New York investment bank Triangle Capital. Fears of a double-dip recession notwithstanding, demand for designer merchandise with fat price tags continues to climb, he said.
A Michael Kors spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday.
Critics say the company’s rise has been remarkable given that the 52-year-old designer founded it only eight years ago, following a stint as designer for Celine, the French fashion label owned by European luxury behemoth LVMH.
Looking ahead, “there are very few brands that are performing on the scale of Michael Kors, and that have as much room left to grow in different channels and parts of the world,” said Kestenbaum.
Michael Kors has more than doubled in size during the past four years and is cranking out profits despite the costly expansion of its retail chain, which this spring added a 7,000-square-foot Paris boutique on Rue St. Honore. With more than 100 stores worldwide, Michael Kors plans to double that figure in 2012.
The torrid growth has been pushed by bigwig fashion financiers Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll, who brought Tommy Hilfiger public in the early 1990s after taking it private just a few years earlier.
In the meantime, the designer and his chief executive, John Idol, are cranking out clothing and handbags that appeal to “aspirational” shoppers who — one tier below the super-wealthy luxury crowd — are likewise attracted to brands like Coach and Ralph Lauren. jkosman@nypost.com