(New York, USA) - Cash-strapped US apparel maker Liz Claiborne said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its Liz Claiborne, Monet and Kensie brands and has completed the sale of its Dana Buchman brand in a bid to pare debt.
The actions have raised about $328 million, the New York-based women's fashion company said in a statement.
The company will look for a new corporate name "that will better reflect our keen focus on building and growing our three global lifestyle brands -- Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand and Kate Spade," William McComb, chief executive of Liz Claiborne, Inc., said in the statement.
The company said it has agreed to sell the Liz Claiborne and Monet brands to department-store chain JC Penney Company, and the Kensie brand to Bluestar Alliance, a New York-based privately owned investment firm.
The Liz Claiborne, Monet and Kensie sale transactions are expected to close by the end of the year.
The Dana Buchman brand was sold to the Kohl's department store chain, the company said.
Shares in Liz Claiborne shot up 40 percent to $7.15 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company also said it had reached a deal with Donna Karan International for a year-early termination of the DKNY Jeans and DKNY Active license, which will now end on December 31.
In early September, Liz Claiborne announced it would give up control of its Mexx brand to investment fund The Gores Group for $85 million.
After the various operations are completed, the company estimated its debt pile at between $270 million and $290 million by the end of the year.
"Over the past few years, we have worked diligently to turn this into a more efficient, dynamic, brand-centric, retail-based company, and today marks the culmination of these efforts," McComb said.
"At the close of these transactions, at a time when most economists in the world are now agreeing that major European and the US markets are facing significant risks of another recession, we will be a more appropriately levered, more capital efficient, growth-oriented company."
The company reported in July a second-quarter loss of $88 million, compared with a loss $77 million for the second quarter of 2010.
