Ashley Stewart confirms Invus backing

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Jun 7, 2016

Plus-size women's retailer Ashley Stewart confirmed The Invus Group has bought a controlling interest in the company from Clearlake Capital Group and the FirePine Group. Terms were not disclosed.

 
The Secaucus, New Jersey-based firm will continue to be helmed b chairman and chief executive officer James Rhee, the founder of FirePine.

"We see in Ashley Stewart an iconic brand with an incredibly loyal and growing customer base. We are excited to partner with James, Kristen and the rest of the management team to support the customer-first, omnichannel strategy that has catapulted Ashley Stewart into becoming a next generation, multi-channel retail leader," said Jonas Fajgenbaum, a managing director at Invus.

With 89 stores, Ashley Stewart survived close to 100 store closures, following bankruptcy in 2013. 

The group stated that under Clearlake and FirePine's ownership, the retailer "achieved record profitability, growth and market share expansion."

"We are pleased to have sponsored Ashley Stewart's management team during a period of significant transformation as the Company has become an industry leader with some of the best e-commerce, loyalty and asset productivity metrics in retail. The company is well positioned for its next phase of growth with Invus," added José E. Feliciano, founder and managing partner of Clearlake.