Victoria’s Secret’s Stock Surges as It Makes Debut on Public Market
Victoria’s Secret’s stock is going up.
The lingerie business, along with Victoria’s Secret Beauty and the Pink division, officially separated from Bath & Body Works on Tuesday morning. Shares of the newly formed Victoria’s Secret & Co., which now stands alone on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the “VSCO” stock ticker, surged more than 28 percent as a result.
Meanwhile, shares of the soap and hand sanitizer brand Bath & Body Works, or BBWI, which was previously L Brands, fell more than 3 percent the same day.
“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and to launch Bath & Body Works as a stand-alone public company,” Andrew Meslow, chief executive officer of Bath & Body Works, said in a statement. “Innovation remains at the foundation of Bath & Body Works and with our leadership positions across key product categories, strong performance across channels and highly loyal and growing customer base, we are poised to continue our track record of industry-leading growth and profitability. On behalf of the management team and the board, I’d like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the associates who worked so hard on the successful spin-off of Victoria’s Secret. I am grateful to all of our associates for their contributions to the success of our business as we look forward to capturing the opportunities ahead and we wish the Victoria’s Secret business and associates well as they embark on their journey as a stand-alone public company.”
Victoria’s Secret & Co. has 88.3 million shares of common stock outstanding, giving it a market cap of about $5.1 billion — far above the $525 million price tag that private equity firm Sycamore Partners had planned to pay for the Lingerie, Beauty and Pink divisions in early 2020.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan served as financial advisers to help distribute 100 percent of shares of Victoria’s Secret to Bath & Body Works shareholders (previously L Brands) after the market closed Monday. Bath & Body Works stockholders received one share of Victoria’s Secret common stock for every three shares of Bath & Body Works common stock held at the close of business on July 22.
