The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. 2007 Annual Report
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Form 10-K

NOTE 4 - ACQUISITION AND DIVESTITURE OF
BUSINESSES AND LICENSE ARRANGEMENTS
During fiscal 2007, the Company purchased the remaining minority equity interests in Bumble and Bumble Products, LLC and Bumble and Bumble, LLC, which have been accounted for as indefinite lived intangible assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet.

On April 10, 2006 (the "Effective Date"), the Company completed the sale of certain assets and operations of the reporting unit that marketed and sold Stila brand products to Stila Corp. (the "Purchaser"), an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., for consideration of $23.0 million. The sale price included cash of $9.3 million, a promissory note with a notional value of $13.3 million and a fair value of $11.0 million and convertible preferred stock with an aggregate liquidation preference of $5.0 million and a fair value of $2.7 million. As additional consideration for the purchased assets, and subject to the terms and conditions of the sale agreement, the Purchaser will pay the Company an amount equal to two percent of the annual net sales of the acquired business during the period commencing on the Effective Date and ending August 20, 2019. The Company will use these proceeds to satisfy its commitment under the 1999 agreement pursuant to which it originally purchased the Stila business. The Purchaser immediately assumed responsibility for all decisions regarding the operations of the Stila business and the Company agreed to divest itself of continuing involvement in the Stila business, except as described below.

In fiscal 2006, the Company recorded charges of $80.3 million (net of $43.3 million tax benefit) to discontinued operations, which reflected the loss on the disposition of the business of $69.9 million, net of tax, and adjustments to the fair value of assets sold, the costs to dispose of those assets not acquired by the Purchaser and other costs in connection with the sale. The charges also include the operating losses of $10.4 million, net of tax, for fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. Net sales associated with the discontinued operations were $45.1 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. All statement of earnings infor mation for fiscal 2005 has been restated for com parative purposes, including the restatement of the makeup product category and each of the geographic regions presented in Note 17-Segment Data and Related Information.

In order to facilitate the transition of the Stila business to the Purchaser, the Company agreed to provide certain infor mation systems, accounting and other back office services to the Purchaser in exchange for monthly service fees designed to recover the estimated costs of providing these transition services. The Company also agreed with the Purchaser to provide certain distribution and online services. In both cases, the services concluded in fiscal 2007.

In fiscal 2006, the Company settled its obligation, recorded as goodwill at June 30, 2005, related to an earnout provision in the Company's fiscal 2000 acquisition of Jo Malone Limited.

In fiscal 2005, the Company acquired a majority equity interest in its former distributor in Portugal. The aggregate payments made to acquire the distributor were funded by cash provided by operations and did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations or financial condition. In addition, the Company assumed debt and other long-term obligations of 4.6 million Euros associated with the acquisition (approximately $5.6 million at acquisition date exchange rates). The debt is payable semi-annually through February 2008 at a variable interest rate.

At various times during fiscal 2007, 2006 and 2005, the Company also acquired businesses engaged in the wholesale distribution and retail sale of the Company's products in the United States and other countries.

The aggregate cost for these activities, which includes purchase price, earn-out payments and acquisition costs, was $61.2 million, $51.7 million, and $7.1 million in fiscal 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively, and each transaction was accounted for using the purchase method of accounting. Accordingly, the results of operations for each of the acquired businesses are included in the accompanying consolidated financial statements commencing with its date of original acquisition. Pro forma results of operations, as if each of such businesses had been acquired as of the beginning of the year of acquisition, have not been presented, as the impact on the Company's consolidated financial results would not have been material.

In fiscal 2007, the Company signed an exclusive agreement to create fragrances and related products to be sold to Coach Inc., which are available at Coach retail stores in the United States. In May 2007, the Company entered into a license agreement with Ford Motor Company to create a fragrance using the name Mustang. Since fiscal 2006, the Company developed and sold fragrance products pursuant to a license agreement with Daisy Fuentes. Since fiscal 2005, the Company developed and sold products under license agreements for Sean John (announced in May 2004), Tom Ford (announced in April 2005) and Missoni (announced in May 2005) and an Origins license agreement to develop and sell products using the name of Dr. Andrew Weil (announced in October 2004).

Certain license agreements may require minimum royalty payments, incremental royalties based on net sales levels and minimum spending on advertising and promotional activities. Royalty expenses are accrued in the period in which net sales are earned while advertising and promotional expenses are accrued at the time these costs are incurred.