Disney buys back North American Disney Store chain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has repurchased its North American Disney Store chain from Children's Place Retail Stores Inc (PLCE.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the companies said on Thursday.

Disney said it bought back 220 locations in the United States and Canada. Terms were not disclosed. The final number of acquired stores will depend on the outcome of negotiations with landlords, it said.

Disney also obtained the right to close about 100 stores.

Children's Place said in March it was exiting the Disney Store business, and Disney confirmed it was in talks to take back stores.

Children's Place, whose eponymous chain sells clothes for children, said it would provide transitional support to Disney for up to six months and expects to incur exit costs of $50 million -- at the low end of its anticipated range of $50 million to $100 million.

Most of these cash costs were taken in the first quarter, the company said.

Disney sold a struggling chain of 313 stores to Children's Place in 2004. At the time, Children's Place was seeking to expand in the market for merchandise for newborns to age 10, and Disney was shifting its consumer goods strategy from running its own stores to designing and then licensing products to other retailers.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Derek Caney and John Wallace)