A pair of private equity firms and shoemaker Wolverine World Wide plan to acquire Collective Brands, the parent of retailer Payless ShoeSource and owner of such product lines as Keds and Saucony, in a deal valued at $2 billion, or $1.32 billion excluding debt.
The buyers plan to divide up the company with Wolverine, which produces the venerable Hush Puppies line, buying the shoe brands and Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital acquiring Payless and Collective Licensing International (CLI).
