Bebe Purchases Buddy’s Home Furnishings

Bebe Stores Inc. (San Francisco) has purchased 47 Buddy’s Home Furnishings rent-to-own franchises for $35 million, according to a company press release. The agreement allows Bebe to build additional franchises throughout the Southeastern U.S.

Bebe CEO Manny Mashouf said, “This is a transformational acquisition that will not only be materially accretive to Bebe’s cash flow over time, but also provides a platform for future growth through the development agreement … the acquired Buddy’s stores have a strong and consistent record of free cash flow generation across multiple market cycles. This acquisition diversifies Bebe’s profit stream and better utilizes existing net operating loss carryforwards. Additionally, the expanded operational infrastructure being developed for this transaction can be leveraged to support additional acquisitions of high free cash flow entities in the future.”