Jones Group auction pits Sycamore against G-III

Two savvy retail players are jonesing for Jones Group — and neither wants to share the goods.

The New York-based owner of Anne Klein, Nine West and Stuart Weitzman is entering the final stages of an auction process that pits the buyout firm Sycamore Partners against G-III, an apparel  company, sources told The Post.

Jones is in talks to sell itself at a price tag between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion, or roughly $16.50  to $17.50 a share, according to sources close to the negotiations.

Sycamore — whose co-founder Stefan Kaluzny’s recent acquisitions have included retailers Hot Topic and Talbots — is being advised by Guggenheim Securities in a bid backed by $600 million in  debt financing, sources said.

G-III, headed by garment-district bigwig Morris Goldfarb, is said to be scrambling to raise a similar amount of debt with the help of adviser Barclays Capital, according to insiders.

G-III, which has little cash on its balance sheet, may pursue a cash-and-stock offer that will depend on its ability to line up buyers for the brands it doesn’t want.

“This is Sycamore’s deal to lose,” opined one banking source, noting Kaluzny’s history of aggressive dealmaking.

Sycamore last month attempted to jump the auction process for Jones in a joint bid with KKR, the private-equity giant headed by Henry Kravis, The Post reported at the time.

That effort failed, however, and KKR exited the bidding. More recently, Sycamore held talks with G-III about a similarly structured joint bid for Jones, according to sources.

Kaluzny is said to covet Jones’ shoe brands, which include Stuart Weitzman, Kurt Geiger and the Nine West chain. G-III, meanwhile, is interested in Jones’s apparel, in particular its denim business.

Despite their complementary interests, Sycamore and G-III couldn’t come to terms on a joint bid.

Now the two firms appear focused on leading their own respective bidding blocs, with plans to offload the businesses they don’t want to third parties.

“It’s possible Sycamore will win and just end up selling the apparel to G-III,” said a banker briefed  on the process.

While an announcement could come as soon as this week, sources said negotiations have been  complicated as bidders sort through Jones’s plethora of brands and who will buy them.

The portfolio’s other labels include Jones New York, Gloria Vanderbilt and Easy Spirit.

Jones, which hired Citigroup this summer to explore strategic options, reported third-quarter profits on Wednesday that beat Wall Street’s expectations.

On a call with analysts, Jones CEO Wes Card declined to answer questions about the auction process.

A spokesman for Sycamore declined to comment and G-III didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jones closed Wednesday at $15.35, up 3 cents.