The plan to sell Victoria’s Secret to a private equity investor appears to be in trouble, with the buyer saying yesterday that it wanted to terminate the deal because of the retail chain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times reported. Sycamore Partners, which agreed to buy a majority of Victoria’s Secret from its embattled owner, L Brands, in February, argued its case in a Delaware court filing. The move sent the company’s shares plummeting by about 20 percent before trading of the stock was temporarily halted. L Brands, which also owns Bath & Body Works, said in a statement that it believed Sycamore’s attempt to terminate the acquisition was “invalid,” and that it planned to “vigorously defend the lawsuit” and work toward closing the deal. The public health crisis, which has hit apparel chains especially hard, has forced nonessential retailers to close stores, cut corporate salaries and furlough employees. Sycamore pointed to such actions as evidence that L Brands had violated the terms of its agreement, including the obligation to essentially conduct business as usual and to refrain from changing “any cash management policies, practices, principles or methodologies.”
