Hilfiger The designer has no clothes

Did Tommy Hilfiger sell shareholders short? The fashion designer is selling his eponymous company to Apax in a LBO worth $1.6bn - a price one of his biggest shareholders calls too cheap. The charge is given added heft by incentives Tommy and his henchmen have received from Apax that misalign their interests with those of shareholders. Fred Gehring and Ludo Onnink, the executives at Hilfiger’s European unit who steered negotiations with Apax, will receive non-recourses loan from the private equi...