Exclusive: Dutch lingerie firm Hunkemoller considers $500 million sale – sources
March 27, 2015 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – Dutch lingerie firm Hunkemoller, owned by European private equity firm PAI, is eyeing a sale or stock market listing, several sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Banks have been pitching to the retailer, which began as a corset shop in Amsterdam in 1886 and is now the largest high-street lingerie brand in the Benelux region.
Hunkemoller could be worth around $500 million, one of the sources said. In a 2014 company report, Chief Executive Philip Mountford said the chain was now a 400 million-euro ($435 million) business.
PAI is more likely to pursue a sale than a stock market listing, a separate source said. PAI declined to comment.
Hunkemoller, which employs Dutch model and TV personality Sylvie Meis in its marketing, has over 600 stores in 16 countries from Spain to Saudi Arabia. Its products include the “Diva” and “Candy” bras.
The brand has been expanding aggressively, with its chief focus on Germany, Austria and Sweden, and is planning forays into Asia. Sales have grown around 10 percent each year since PAI’s investment in 2011, one source said, and it is targeting a younger and increasingly affluent market.
Although the brand is based in the Netherlands it makes about half of its sales in Germany where it is the largest lingerie chain with 185 stores as of February 2014.
PAI, which earlier this month closed its sixth fund at 3.3 billion euros, purchased Hunkemoller from private equity-backed company Maxeda for 265 million euros four years ago.
Reuters reported this week that PAI is also preparing to sell German building materials group Xella.
(Reporting By Arno Schuetze and Freya Berry; editing by Kirstin Ridley and Keith Weir)
