The Kooples receives unsolicited offers but has no plans to appoint adviser yet - CEO
The Kooples, the privately owned retail company has received many unsolicited offers but is not currently for sale, co-chief executive officer and co-founder Emmanuel Stern said.
The company has been approached by European, US and Asian private equity funds and strategic players but it has not hired any advisers and does not plan to do so at the moment, the CEO said.
“We met several funds but nothing has been decided now. We remained focused this year on our US expansion and on the wholesale and ecommerce development,” Stern said.
No binding offers has been made yet at this stage, he added.
LBO France, owner of a 20% stake in the company, is believed to have been approached by several parties including Permira and General Atlantic, according to an earlier report.
LBO France has not put its stake on sale but could welcome a sale if a generous offer came along, especially from an investor that would be able to double or triple the revenues worldwide, a source said.
Meanwhile, LBO France has reportedly entered into exclusive talks with Zannier for the acquisition of IKKS, the France-based international fashion retailer.
The report cited several sources as saying that the deal could value the target at nine times EBITDA or between EUR 500m and EUR 600m. IKKS generates an EBITDA of EUR 60m on annual revenues of EUR 310m.
Zannier will retain a minority stake in IKKS, the source said. Rothschild is advising Zannier and LBO France does not use any financial advisors but uses KEA Consultants for strategic advisory and Eight Advisory for the Audit. Deal should close end of June, another source said.
The Kooples reported sales of EUR 100m when LBO France acquire its 20% stake in 2011. The company now generates an EBITDA of EUR 38m on annual revenues of EUR 220m, it was earlier reported.
The company’s majority owners are co-CEOs Emmanuel Stern and Nicolas Dreyfus, co-founder and Chairman Laurent Elicha, and co-founder Alexandre and Raphael Elicha. This news service previously reported that The Kooples will seek a new investor by 2016 to accelerate its Asian expansion.