Business

Jones Group suits Sycamore Partners

Sycamore Partners just gulped down another plate of retail brands — and it already wants to see the menu again.

The New York private-equity firm on Tuesday completed the $2.2 billion acquisition of Jones Group, whose slew of Seventh Avenue labels include Stuart Weitzman, Kurt Geiger, Anne Klein and Nine West.

Meanwhile, Sycamore co-founder Stefan Kaluzny is poised to raise a fresh $2.5 billion in the coming weeks for his second major buyout fund, sources said, and will continue to prowl for more bargains.

“It’s safe to say there are more deals to come,” said a source close to Sycamore, noting that the PE firm has already closed on nearly $2 billion of the new fund.

“They like out-of-favor companies, and they’re definitely value-driven.”

Kaluzny, a former partner at Golden Gate Capital who declined to be interviewed Tuesday, likes labels that seem to be on their last legs.

In the case of Jones, sources said longtime CEO Wes Card is expected to retire. Sycamore plans to keep the firm’s older labels — Anne Klein and Nine West, et al. — while selling off the more valuable Weitzman and Geiger franchises.

Having raised $1 billion in 2012 for a previous fund, Kaluzny used that cash for acquisitions and investments in down-and-out brands such as mall retailers Hot Topic and Aeropostale, and the dowdy women’s clothier Talbots.

Nevertheless, sources said the distressed-investing guru has attracted fresh cash with the unlikely success of his retail bets.

“The early performance of Talbots has been very good,” according to one source close to the situation. “The turnaround is well under way and starting to perform.”