MULTITITLE MAILER ORCHARD BRANDS in March purchased home goods catalog Linen Source. Investment bank Tully & Holland initiated the transaction and acted as the exclusive investment banking adviser to Linen Source; terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Linen Source had been part of The Thompson Group, a Tampa, FL-based multititle mailer. Thompson Group in February sold its women’s apparel catalog Casual Living USA to Monmoy Partners, which owns Boston Apparel Group. And two years ago, Thompson Group sold its gourmet coffee Web unit, Café Belmondo, to Boca Java. It now plans to focus solely on Thompson Cigar Co. — the oldest mail order cigar company (founded in 1915) in the U.S.
Based in Beverly, MA, Orchard Brands is a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital. A $1.1 billion multichannel marketer of apparel and home products, Orchard Brands includes the Appleseed’s, Bedford Fair Lifestyles, Blair, Brownstone Studio, Draper’s & Damon’s, Gold Violin, Haband, Lew Magram, Norm Thompson and WinterSilks brands.
Tully & Holland said in a press release that Orchard Brands acquired Linen Source to broaden its product offering and provide a diverse selection of high quality bedding and home decor products to its target customer — consumers over age 55.
Orchard Brands plans to consolidate Linen Source’s business operations into its existing organization.
Stuart Rose, managing director with Tully & Holland, believes Orchard Brands will be able to grow Linen Source. “It’s a category they’re represented in — home furnishings — and Orchard Brands has a database the size of Godzilla.”
Linen Source was founded in 1943 as Colonial Maid Curtains. It was purchased by the Franzblau family, owners of The Thompson Group, in 1990. After a brief transition, the catalog’s product mix was shifted to bedding.