Qatar Royal Family Acquires Italian Luxury Brand Valentino

In the middle of July, the biggest news in the fashion industry was that the Qatari royal family bought Italian luxury brands Valentino and Missoni, and 100% holding. This is another acquisition of Qatar Capital in the field of luxury goods. In fact, many mergers and acquisitions took place in the fashion industry in the first half of this year.

According to statistics, in the first four months alone, there were 62 acquisitions in fashion, shoes and retail worldwide, involving an amount of 3.66 billion dollars. Although the number is the same as that of the same period last year, the amount has doubled. Financial owners from the Middle East and East Asia not only have strong capital strength, but also have different plans in choosing brands.

In this acquisition boom, Middle East capital is the most eye-catching. As early as 2010, the royal family of Qatar spent 2.2 billion dollars to acquire the famous Harrods in Britain. In addition, it also owns 1.03% of LVMH Group, 5.2% of Tiffany, 26% of Sainsbury, a British supermarket, and 12.8% of Lagard è re, a French media group. Although the Italian landmark of this acquisition luxury goods The brand Valentino has always been associated with losses (it only started to make profits in the past year or two), but the oil financiers themselves are loyal customers of advanced customization: both parties attach great importance to not putting forward excessive requirements for operation.

Compared with Qatar, Istithmar World, also from the Middle East, chose to withdraw. In 2007, Istithmar World and Perry Capital and The Yucaipa Cos, the main lenders of Barneys, were acquired at a high price of 942 million US dollars. A restructuring agreement was reached to reduce Barneys' debt from US $590 million to US $50 million. Perry Capital's debt was converted into a major shareholder, while Istithmar World was converted into a minor shareholder, with only one board seat reserved.

Dubai's present may be Qatar's future, but the good news is that the Middle East consortium backed by oil resources is strong. buy Luxury brand (Especially Gao Ding) Maybe it is just to match with his global influence, and making money is next.

East Asian buyers prefer small brands

Compared with the capital in the Middle East, the capital from East Asia or, to be more precise, China is not big and the brands acquired are not big enough. In May this year, Hong Kong YGM Company acquired AQUASCUTUM, which filed for bankruptcy in the UK, and finally fully gained the control of the brand in the world. In the previous April, Trinity, a subsidiary of Li&Fung Group, bought Gieves&Hawkes, an old British menswear brand, for US $51.6 million; Another fund of the Group acquired France designer 80% shares of the brand Sonia Rykiel; IDG Capital also invested in Moncler, which was originally planned to be listed.

Obviously, the capital from China has a significant impact on foreign countries Fashion brand The purpose of acquisition and equity participation of the Company is quite pragmatic: to obtain objective investment returns is always the first. On the one hand, it comes from the consumption potential of the Chinese market itself, and on the other hand, it is the value return brought by brand promotion. However, many analysts are worried about the brand building ability of Asian companies. For example, YGM, which started with production, did not make much progress after acquiring Guy Laroche in 2004; Revitalizing Aquascutum will require more funds. The key issue is whether China understands how to successfully operate a brand in Europe and the United States.

Just as Renown, the former owner of Aquascutum, has never considered the brand globally. Their business experience comes from Renown's rapid growth of the local market in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, but their management ideas have not changed since the 1990s. So Aquascutum, a brand once as famous as Burberry, finally went bankrupt in the West.

Europe and the United States rely on mergers and acquisitions to resist risks

The third acquisition force comes from Europe and the United States itself. Although the US economy is still good, Europe has many problems. Therefore, expansionary acquisitions did not occur, and instead, people chose to sell non core assets. PPR Group will sell its African retail network CFAO, and also plans to sell bookstores, electronic chain stores Fnac and mail order business Redcats together, so that the Group will focus on luxury goods, sports and lifestyle. Nike has determined the core position of four brands: Nike, Jordan, Converse and Hurley, while Cole Haan and Umbro are planned to be sold before May 31, 2013.

More European enterprises choose to acquire brands that play a complementary role in the development of the company's business to meet the uncertain economy in the future. LVMH Group acquired Arnys, a Paris brand, in order to use the production technology and staff of its studio to help its brand Berluti expand globally. Galeries Lafayette (Lafayette Group) of France acquired Didier Gu é rin, a jeweler, after acquiring Royal Quartz and Louis Pion, two watch chains, and intended to acquire more high-end fashion and accessories brands. As more and more high-end brands take the route of self operated retail stores, large department store groups in Europe and the United States will also purchase more small and medium-sized brands or launch their own brand product series. It is not difficult to predict that in the second half of 2012, the Middle East Oil Capital will continue to look for opportunities to acquire top brands, while Chinese capital hopes to buy traditional brands that fall into the bottom, while European and American capital who know themselves best will focus on small and medium-sized brands that Asian capital has not yet noticed.