Details are sketchy, but the privately held Tommy Hilfiger Group, the well-known designer and marketer a casual fashions, has agreed to sell its global sourcing group to Li & Fung, a provider of outsourced procurement and import/export services.

Under the agreement, Hilfiger will sell its global sourcing operations, with offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to Li & Fung for close to $250 million. Hilfiger will then use Li & Fung’s global sourcing operations on an outsourced basis.

A press release said that Hilfiger internal group procured a little over $700 million in goods in 2006, with a profit of $31 million from those operations.

Scale appeared to be a key factor here, as it would be expensive for Hilfiger to develop the presence Li & Fung has across the globe.

Fred Gehring, Chief Executive Officer of Tommy Hilfiger Group, said, "Our own operated buying offices have contributed tremendously to the development of our business to date, but we believe that to take things forward we can benefit tremendously from the integration of these offices within the greater network of Li & Fung, with over 70 offices in over 40 countries and territories, including as many as 19 offices in China alone.”