Dallas--Private equity firm Golden Gate Capital (GGC), which threw Zale Corp. a $150 million lifeline last week, has taken a 19.9 percent stake in the company.
A Schedule 13D filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Golden Gate Capital now owns nearly 6.4 million shares of Zale stock. According to Reuters, this makes the San Francisco-based firm the second-largest stakeholder in the company behind Breeden Capital Management LLC, controlled by former SEC chairman Richard Breeden, which has a 28.3 percent stake in Zale.
In a deal announced by Zale earlier this month, Golden Gate Capital can take up to a 25 percent equity interest in Zale. In addition to a 25 percent stake and the interest and fees earned on the $150 million it loaned Zale, the firm gained two seats on Zale's board of directors.
One is occupied by Stefan Kaluzny, a Golden Gate managing director and the chairman of the board of directors for clothing retailer Express, and the other by Peter Morrow, a principal at Golden Gate Capital.
The Golden Gate deal was one of a slew of announcements Zale made on May 10 that put to rest several months of speculation over the struggling jeweler's fate. Zale had been working with New York-based investment banking firm Peter J. Solomon Co. since February to secure a new capital structure to regain its financial footing.
In addition to the Golden Gate loan, Zale closed on new deals with lenders that upped its credit facility to $650 million and reached a five-year agreement with TD Financing Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank, to offer a private-label credit card program to its Canadian customers, effective July 1.
The new agreement replaced Zale's existing agreement with Citi Cards Canada, which was set to expire June 30 and it will be used for the company's People Jewellers and Mappins Jewellers stores in Canada.
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