Phillips-Van Heusen, the clothing conglomerate that owns Calvin Klein, announced Monday that it would buy Tommy Hilfiger, once a leading purveyor of colorful preppy clothing, for about 2.2 billion euros, or $3 billion, in cash and stock.

With the acquisition, Phillips-Van Heusen, which also owns Arrow and Izod and licenses brands like Geoffrey Beene and Kenneth Cole New York, will seek to take advantage of Tommy Hilfiger’s strong European distribution channels for its own products.
Despite Tommy Hilfiger’s reputation as a quintessentially American clothier, two-thirds of the company’s business is based in Europe.
The deal includes the assumption of 100 million euros ($138 million) in liabilities, Phillips-Van Heusen said.
The chief executive of Phillips-Van Heusen, Emanuel Chirico, said in a statement that the acquisition was a “unique opportunity to bring together two premier companies, each with iconic brands.”
“Tommy Hilfiger fits all of our acquisition criteria: a strong brand, superior management, highly profitable, immediately accretive to earnings, and focused on international growth,” Mr. Chirico said.
While Mr. Hilfiger no longer holds a management role at the company that bears his name, he remains a principal designer and a public face for the clothier.
(Source: The NYT)