Little Brenn Limited is the largest children's clothing distributor in Korea with an estimated 12% share of the children's apparel market. The company designs and contract manufactures, under its own brand names, apparel and accessories for toddlers and children up to 16 and sells these products through 1,100 owner-operated, franchised stores in neighborhood street-market locations throughout the country. Prior to the investment, Little Brenn was a wholly owned subsidiary of the E-Land Group, a major Korean apparel and retail business group with annual sales in excess of $600 million. Warburg Pincus invested in Little Brenn in 1998 as part of a corporate restructuring effort of E-Land Group, which established Little Brenn as an independent entity. The company has demonstrated the superiority of its business model of franchising branded apparel retail outlets across urban and suburban neighborhoods countrywide. While retaining full control over the design, manufacturing and distribution of its products, the company is able to avoid the costs of opening and maintaining retail outlets and harness the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the owner-operators. As the first to introduce this retail concept to the children's apparel market in Korea, Little Brenn has achieved consistent sale and profit growth by providing more value to franchisees and quality-sensitive, but price conscious, consumers. Little Brenn's ability to deliver quality product at relatively low prices, franchised retail format, large network of neighborhood stores, and strong brand recognition, coupled with its stronger financial positions from Warburg Pincus' investment, allowed it to emerge as a dominant player in Korea's domestic retail clothing sector as the country recovered from the economic crisis in 1997/1998.

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