bebe stores, a global specialty licensor of women’s apparel and accessories that distributes bebe branded products worldwide through its licensees in approximately 100 international stores, completed the acquisition of 47 Buddy’s Home Furnishings franchises from Franchise Group, an operator of franchised and franchisable businesses, for $35m. “This is a transformational acquisition that will not only be materially accretive to bebe’s cash flow over time, but also provides a platform for future growth through the development agreement. The acquired Buddy’s stores have a strong and consistent record of free cash flow generation across multiple market cycles. This acquisition diversifies bebe’s profit stream and better utilizes existing net operating loss carryforwards. Additionally, the expanded operational infrastructure being developed for this transaction can be leveraged to support additional acquisitions of high free cash flow entities in the future,” Manny Mashouf, bebe stores CEO.