Italian luxury lifestyle fashion company Golden Goose will be bought byCarlyle Europe Partners IV, the two counterparts announced yesterday (see here the press release).
The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2017. The auction, managed by Lazard as financial advisor, was opened just after last Summer and saw a long lost of private equity bidders such as BC Partners, Lion Capital, Charme, Chequers, General Atlantic, Permira and Riverside. Qatar’s Investment holding Mayhoola too was said to be interested to the deal as Myhoola is owning both Valentino and Pal Zileri fashion maison in Italy (si veda altro articolo di BeBeez).
The company is said to have an equity value of more than 400 million euros (see Reuters). Established in 2000 with headquarters in Venice, Italy, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand is a fast-growing high-end lifestyle fashion company, with strong positioning in the luxury sneaker market globally. Thanks to its distinctive product design and appeal, in the last few years the company has already delivered a consistent track record of continuous high growth, generating more than 100 million euros revenues in 2016, with international markets accounting for almost 60% of such revenues.
Golden Goose Deluxe Brand is distributed worldwide through a network of more than 700 exclusive multi-brand stores and franchisees, along with 8 directly operated flagship stores.
The company had reached 77.9 million euros in revenues in 2015, with a 19.1 million euros ebitda and a 3.9 million euros net profit with a net financial debt of 18.2 millions (see here an analysis by Leanus, after free registration and login). The company is targeting 130-140 million euros in revenues this year, Golden Goose’s ceo and chairman Roberta Benaglia told MF Fashion three weeks ago.
Golden Goose is now controlled by Ergon Capital Partners III which bought a majority stake in the company in May 2015 from Dgpa sgr (now called Syle Capital sgr, with Dgpa’s partner Roberta Benaglia who is now Style Capital’s managing partner, remaining as Golden Goose’s ceo), Riello Investimenti sgr and the founders Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo. In the deal, Zignago Holding spa bouth a minority stake of the company, while the founders remained with a 13% stake and the management retained a 3%. That deal had been closed on the basis of 100 million euros enterprise value for Golden Goose after the company had closed year 2014 with 48 million euros in revenues (+60% from 2013) and an ebitda over 10 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
Golden Goose Deluxe Brand will be Carlyle’s fourth significant investment in the European fashion and apparel sector following previous investments in Moncler, TwinSet Simona Barbieri and Hunkemoller.
Marco De Benedetti, managing director and co-head, Carlyle Europe Partners, said: “We admire Golden Goose’s stylistic unique brand identity, effective business model and undisputed capacity to innovate and create a new category of ‘luxury fashion sneakers’. We look forward to supporting Golden Goose Deluxe Brand with our strategic industry knowledge and through investments to build the potential for the brand, especially in United States and Asia, and predominantly though an acceleration of its worldwide retail and online presence.”
Emanuele Lembo, managing partner of Ergon Capital Advisors, added: “This transaction is exactly in line with Ergon’s investment philosophy and approach and we are very pleased with the successful partnership that Ergon has established with an excellent management team and its co-investors. Over the life of this investment, Ergon has supported the extraordinary development of the company accelerating its sales growth, also through the expansion of the retail network, with a constant focus on operational excellence. We trust that Golden Goose Deluxe Brand and its outstanding management team will succeed in further creating value in the future and we are convinced that The Carlyle Group is the perfect partner for the company’s next phase of growth.”
The Carlyle Group was advised by Dvr Capital, Bain & Company, Kpmg and Latham & Watkins law firm. The sellers were advised by Lazard, The Boston Consulting Group, PwC and Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners law firm.
