Sage Capital Buys Corral West

Wyoming-based Corral West Ranchwear has been bought by a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that plans to help expand the clothing chain into the work wear market.

Sage Capital Partners was expected to announce this week that it had acquired controlling interest in Corral West, which operates 95 Western-inspired clothing stores and employs 1,000 people, mostly part time.

Sage Capital Partners did not disclose the purchase price, saying only that it had bought more than 60% of Corral West.

“They are the biggest player in the country,” Dan Gardenswartz, managing director of Sage Capital Partners, said of Corral West.

Corral West had revenue near $100 million last year and has been experiencing double-digit sales growth, Gardenswartz said.

No changes to the company’s leadership were planned and the Corral West headquarters was expected to remain in Cheyenne.

“They’ve contributed some capital that will allow us to do some very aggressive growth as we see fit,” said Leslie Ball, chief executive of Corral West.

Corral West expanded its store chain in 1999 by buying out the retail business of Denver-based Miller Stockman Co. Miller Stockman has since focused on clothes manufacturing.

In October, Corral West opened its first Work Wear Depot in Milwaukee.

The company plans to open two or three more stores in the Midwest next year.