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Leonard Green & Partners to buy David`s Bridal Inc.

Leonard Green & Partners will buy David`s Bridal Inc. from Federated Department Stores Inc., based in Cincinnati, for $750 million, both companies said Friday. Leonard Green & Partners will purchase the 269 David`s Bridal stores and the 10 stores of the upscale Priscilla of Boston Chain. Federated also plans to sell its 511 After Hours Formalwear stores to Men`s Wearhouse Inc., a company headquartered in Houston for $100 million. Both transactions are expected to take place in the beginning of 2007. The sales will allow Federated to lower its debt and begin buying back its shares after the company purchased May Department Stores last year.

The wedding gown market is worth $375 million. David`s Bridal Inc. controls about 3% of the industry. Most of American brides purchase their dream wedding gowns at independent boutiques and spend on average $1,700 a dress. Experts expect the average price to rise to 1,824 next year. The price increase isn`t just a random influx in price. It comes to represent a trend towards buying designer wedding gowns. Oscar de la Renta and other designers have entered the market. Designer gowns start at $3,000 while David`s Bridal sells it`s gowns for prices ranging from $99 to $999. The chain is aware of the designed trend and introduced gowns by designers such as Oleg Cassini and Monique Luo to attract brides interested in spending larger sums of money.

David`s Bridal counts on customers who are less concerned with their wedding gowns. Charlotte-Ann Bulow of Los Angeles for example paid $400 for her wedding gown at David`s Bridal. "The dress is important, but food and location are more important," She said. "If your dress is made out of silk instead of polyester, no one will notice, but if your food is horrible and you get married in the back of an alley, people are going to remember that."