Riata Capital Group, a leading Dallas-based private equity investment firm, announced today that West Coast-based Eurostar, Inc. (WSS), the nation’s leading Hispanic-focused specialty retailer of athletic, fashion, and work-related footwear and accessories, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Foot Locker for $750 million. Since completing the recapitalization of WSS in late 2016, RCG has actively contributed considerable resources to help build and scale the WSS platform, generating significant growth in organic revenue and profitability over the course of the partnership.
RCG’s Co-Managing Partner Barron Fletcher, said, “At the inception of our investment, we saw enormous potential in the differentiated and community-oriented platform that Eric Alon had created and built to meet the needs of families predominantly in underserved, high-growth Hispanic markets. WSS’s authentic, socially-conscious and community-oriented approach has resulted in rewarding outcomes for all stakeholders involved. We are proud to have worked with Eric, CEO Rick Mina, and the rest of the WSS team to expand WSS stores into more neighborhoods in both existing and new markets and to have contributed to the Company’s considerable value creation and strong value proposition for the families they serve.”
Since the completion of the 2016 recapitalization, WSS has achieved numerous key milestones, including:
- Doubling revenues and increasing EBITDA five-fold
- Successfully entering the Texas market with 14 stores to date
- Driving customer loyalty through community engagement and digital initiatives
- Forging strategic partnerships, including a strategic marketing partnership with the Dallas Cowboys Organization
Co-Managing Partner Jeff Fronterhouse of RCG, continued, “WSS’s success highlights our thematic investment approach and strong track record of building market-relevant, high-growth platforms in the Consumer, Business Services, and Healthcare Services sectors. Deploying both buy & build and organic growth strategies to accelerate growth, WSS is a great example of a very well executed organic growth strategy that dramatically increased financial performance and overall valuation. We look forward to deploying similar growth strategies to help founder-owned and closely-held businesses achieve their highest potential.”
Eric Alon, Founder and Executive Chairman of WSS, added, “Over the past five years, WSS has been able to accelerate our market leadership while staying true to our DNA and community-first, customer-focused approach. Throughout, we’ve benefited enormously from the strategic, operational and financial guidance from our partners at Riata. They have been great partners and their many contributions unquestionably led WSS to this milestone transaction with Foot Locker. Foot Locker will bring additional resources to help accelerate unit growth and execute on WSS’s mission. I am confident that WSS has found the right home with Foot Locker and look forward to its future success.”
WSS’s CEO, Rick Mina, concluded, “The Riata team significantly helped us solidify the WSS brand as the leading retail platform in our industry serving our core customer. We clearly established the right strategy to grow WSS when I joined the Company in December 2015, but we needed capital for growth potential. Given Riata’s success building Hibbett, Lids, Teavana and other successful growth companies, we knew they were the right team.”
