Quanzhou Footwear And Clothing Enterprises Launched A Wave Of Mergers And Acquisitions

　 The pioneer brand FUN, which was listed for sale in the second half of last year, has found a buyer - the reporter learned from the industry a few days ago that FUN was eventually acquired by a Quanzhou enterprise. However, due to business plans and other considerations, the new owner has kept the acquisition secret.

It is understood that the Quanzhou enterprise that acquired the Fen brand (FUN) is a clothing enterprise to be listed. The company has always been willing to expand through acquisition for the sake of future growth and preparation for listing. As for the details of the acquisition funds, the staff of the company did not answer the reporters.

　 Endeavour changes its owner three times

Taking into account the acquisition by Quanzhou enterprises, Fenpai has been the owner of three changes.

In the second half of last year, the pioneer of domestic leisure clothing, Fen Brand (FUN), was sold by the brand owner Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd. at the Shanghai United Property Exchange at a price of 7.8 million yuan and transferred its trademark.

Before Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd., the owner of Fen Brand (FUN) was Xiamen Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fenfa International Holdings Co., Ltd. Fenfa International Holdings Co., Ltd. is a company listed in Hong Kong and Singapore at the same time. Its subsidiaries include Xiamen Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Hong Kong Bennington Holdings Co., Ltd. Xiamen Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd. also has clothing factory, knitting factory, bleaching and dyeing factory, washing factory and Anxi Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd.

In 1985, Singapore businessmen set up Xiamen Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd. in front of the Xiamen Palace, successfully introducing the famous American brand FUN casual clothing into the Chinese market. The main products are FUN denim clothing series and casual clothing series, including jeans, sweaters, shirts, pants, T-shirts, sports shoes, socks, hats, bags, belts, glasses, etc. As the first leisure clothing brand landing in China in the form of retail monopoly, the birth of FUN brand has gradually made Chinese people familiar with the mode of monopoly retail. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, western popular culture has the potential to spread rapidly in China, and FUN has attracted a large number of urban young people with this east wind.

Since 1995, international clothing brands have entered the Chinese market, stimulating the rapid development of domestic brands. After 2000, in order to adapt to the competition, expand the product field, reduce the price, and participate in the sales competition in the second and third tier markets, Fen Brand (FUN) once became the leader of the mass merchandiser brand. After 2005, facing the influx of foreign brands, the brand FUN began to decline.
At the time of the rapid rise of competitors, facing the risk of the domestic fashion retail market that the shop rent is rising sharply, the owner of FUN chose to sell the company's main fashion trademark "FUN", outsource all production orders to manufacturers outside the group to produce on behalf of others, and operate the FUN stores in a small scale by franchise. In addition, the insufficient cash flow of Fenfa International Holdings Co., Ltd. also forced it to "break the nerve". The 2006 and 2007 financial reports of Endeavour International showed that the company lost HK $5.1 million and HK $38.7 million respectively in the two fiscal years. According to the announcement at that time, Fenfa operated 264 Fen brand (FUN) stores in China.

In May 2008, Fenfa International Holdings Co., Ltd. announced that: "Xiamen Fenfa Enterprise Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary, transferred the FUN trademark to Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd. at a price of 20 million yuan. At that time, Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd. spent 20 million yuan to purchase the ownership of the trademark, and also purchased the Fen brand (FUN) Stores, goods and sales channels. If only sold at the bottom price, Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd. has held the FUN trademark for only 14 months, which has shrunk by 12.2 million yuan. In the second half of last year, Xiamen Fanpai Clothing Co., Ltd. was listed for sale in Shanghai United Equity Exchange.

　　 Background

M&A surge

The industry reshuffle brought by the changes in the international economic environment and the rapid promotion of the position of Chinese footwear and clothing brands in the international market have made the overseas acquisition of Quanzhou enterprises a trend. As early as 2007, when Anta went public, the company announced that it had plans to acquire foreign well-known brands. In 2009, Anta obtained the business of FILA in China from Belle at a price of more than 300 million yuan.

Ding Shuibo, president of Tebu (China) Co., Ltd., disclosed the plan to acquire foreign brands in an interview with the media, and the target brands may come from Europe. The industry speculates that the European brands to be acquired by Tebu in the future may be Umbro, DIADORA or some other well-known outdoor brands. It is also rumored that another well-known European and American brand, AIVA, is also becoming the target of Quanzhou sports brand acquisition.

Lin Congying, chairman of Jiumuwang (China) Co., Ltd., also said that she would cooperate with three international brand companies in Europe through joint venture or acquisition.

In fact, there are not only the above cases that Quanzhou enterprises have proposed mergers and acquisitions. Zhao Jianhe, Chairman of Fujian Green Group Co., Ltd., spoke on behalf of most Quanzhou entrepreneurs: "Now is a good time for enterprise mergers and acquisitions. The acquisition of some brands by enterprises should not be limited to domestic brands, and foreign brands can also be considered. If conditions are ripe, we will also consider cooperation with foreign brands to help them expand the domestic market, and we will use their marketing network to participate in competition abroad."