Esprit's 68 Percent Sales Discount Signals World's Cheapest Apparel LBO

No apparel retailer in the world is offering potential buyers a bigger discount on a billion-dollar deal than Esprit Holdings Ltd.

Once a $20 billion company, Esprit has plummeted more than 90 percent in the past four years as Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) and Inditex SA's Zara lured away customers and prompted the retailer to say its brand "lost its soul." Shares of Esprit, valued at just $1.4 billion yesterday, sell for 32 cents per dollar of revenue, cheaper than any apparel company after falling to its lowest valuation this week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.