Luxury fashion M&A reactivates in 2021 with five deals in March

While it has taken a few months to take off, major investments, merges and acquisitions within the fashion and luxury industry seem to have started to flourish in 2021. From divestments to major acquisitions, these are the five deals that have the industry talking: Dondup, OAMC, Louboutin, Jil Sander and Vestiaire Collection.

Confirming the rising interest in the so-called circular fashion, Kering and U.S. investment firm Tiger Global Management led a new funding round for secondhand marketplace Vestiaire Collective. They participated alongside existing investors, including its CEO Max Bittner, Vogue’s parent company Condé Nast, and the Eurazeo Group, among others. This 216 million dollars’ worth of new funding have given the Paris-based company the coveted 1 billion-plus dollars valuation.

From venture capital’s strategic investments to founders’ buy-back

Barely days later, the Japanese apparel group Onward Holdings announced that it will sell the Jil Sander brand to Renzo Rosso’s luxury group, owner of Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni, Amiri, and Viktor & Rolf brands for an undisclosed sum.

That same week, the Dutch investment firm Exor Group, announced it has acquired a 24 percent stake in the independently-owned Louboutin for 541 million euros. The deal has pumped the footwear company at 2.3 billion euros.

On March, 25 Made in Italy Fund confirmed the acquisition of Milan-based fashion brand Dondup from fellow LVMH’s private equity division, L Catterton, for an undisclosed sum. Per Reuters, the fund said it aims at creating a fashion conglomerate with Dondup and other fashion brands it owns – linen clothing line 120%Lino and jewellery and accessories maker Rosantica. Dondup’s new owner plans to expand its footprint in Europe and the United States, added Reuters.

Meanwhile, Luke Meier and Arnaud Faeh, the co-founders of Paris-based menswear brand OAMC, repurchased the minority stake in their company they sold to Onward Italia back in 2018. In comments published by ‘WWD”, they explained that they “felt that this was the right time to regain full control over the company, and to put ourselves in the best position to bring the brand to yet another level.”