What's going on?

Psst, Victoria�s Secret is about to get a lot more hush-hush: the lingerie brand is being sold to a US private equity firm, and won�t be under stock market surveillance much longer.

What does this mean?

The owner of Victoria�s Secret, L Brands, agreed on Thursday to sell 55% of the lingerie company to Sycamore Partners, in turn giving the private equity firm full control. The deal � which values Victoria�s Secret at $1.1 billion � follows years of falling sales as consumer tastes have shifted toward both online shopping and comfort- and inclusivity-focused brands.

Those aren�t the only problems the brand�s been dealing with: its reputation has been damaged by accusations of employee sexual misconduct and its chief executive�s dubious ties. That could explain why Victoria�s Secret is so keen to escape the glare of public markets � not to mention why the deal requires its head honcho to step down after more than 50 years at the helm.

Why should I care?

For markets: Separation anxiety.
L Brands has got rid of a bunch of brands in recent years, and it�ll now only be left with Bath & Body Works, which makes up 35% of its total sales. That strategy � of encouraging a company to separate its top-performing brands from its poorly performing ones � is a hedge fund favorite. And since buying a stake in L Brands last year, it�s exactly what activist hedge fund Barington Capital Group has been pushing L Brands to do. Take a bow, Barington.

The bigger picture: Shopping spree.
While investors have been shying away from traditional retail, Sycamore Partners has been all too happy to buy up troubled brick-and-mortar chains like The Limited, Hot Topic, Nine West, and Staples. The firm�s then been selling off their most valuable parts and cutting costs at whatever�s left over. And the technique seems to be working: Sycamore Partners� first fund made an annual post-fee return of 43%.