#Jessica Simpson to buy back her lifestyle brand for $65 million

It worked out for Jessica Simpson after all.

The singer-turned-designer is buying her eponymous lifestyle brand out of bankruptcy for $65 million, according to court documents.

Her brand had been majority-owned by Sequential Brands Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August.

Simpson had been trying for months to secure enough capital to purchase the 62.5 percent stake in the company that Sequential controlled. Jessica and her mother, Tina Simpson, already owned 37.5 percent of the company.

A planned auction for the remaining assets of Sequential, which also owned Joe’s Jeans, Avia and Gaiam, was canceled on Oct. 28.

No other bidders stepped forward to purchase the celebrity’s brand — The Jessica Simpson Collection — for which she was the stalking-horse bidder, meaning she’d been the initial bidder who’d already hammered out a deal with the seller ahead of the auction.

Now that she’ll have full control of her brand, which was announced Friday in court papers, Simpson is ready to expand the business, according to a source familiar with the transaction.

“Jessica is completely reenergized to build this back to be a $1 billion brand,” the source said.

Simpson, the source added, is in active negotiations with licensees for new product categories beyond the clothing, shoes, home goods and children’s products she currently markets.

Sequential originally bought the rights to the entertainer’s brand in 2015 when it forked over $117 million for the 62.5 percent stake in the company. Vince Camuto had previously owned it, paying just $15 million for it.

Most recently, Simpson-branded products have been sold at Macy’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s and generate about $700 million in retail sales, the source familiar said.

After the deal closes, Simpson and her mother will own 100 percent of the 16 year-old company.