Forever 21 Officials Approached Landlords About Possible Purchase
- Small faction didn’t have backing of co-founder Chang
- Company says it’s had only rent negotiations with landlords
Shoppers walk past a Forever 21 Inc. store in Fairfax, Virginia.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
A small faction of officials at Forever 21 Inc. has asked its biggest landlords if they’d consider taking a stake in the clothing retailer, as the company’s leadership battles internally about how to turn around the struggling store chain.
The group, which didn’t have the backing of the company’s co-founder, talked to Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield Property Partners LP about a range of options including a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A rival set of officials, aligned with co-founder Do Won Chang, has opposed any such deal with landlords, the people said, as Chang wants to preserve control over the empire that made him a billionaire.