Golden Gate Capital has increased its stake in Zale Corp. and has become the jewelry store operator's largest shareholder, Bloomberg News reports.
The private equity firm exercised warrants to buy 4.7 million shares, bringing its stake in Zale to 34.5 percent, according to a filing on Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm originally took a 19.9 percent stake in Zale in May and lent the struggling jewelry retailer $150 million.
With that stake, Golden Gate now has a larger stake than Breeden Capital Management LLC, which owns 28.3 percent of Zale and is controlled by former U.S. SEC Chairman Richard Breeden, according to Thomson Reuters data. This makes Golden Gate Zale's largest investor.
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