Macintosh sells off Fashion UK amidst sales decline

Macintosh Retail Group has confirmed the long awaited sale of its Fashion UK division, which includes iconic footwear chains Jones Bootmaker and Brantano. The footwear retailers were sold to British investment company Alteri Partners, a Mayfair based firm established last year aiming to invest "stressed and distressed" retailers. Backed by US private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Alteri Partners acquired Fashion UK from the Dutch-based Group for an undisclosed sum.

Macintosh revealed the net proceeds from the deal were equal to 17 million euros (12.2 million pounds). The money will be reportedly used to repay debt as the sale is set to lead to a "non-cash book loss" of 53 million euros (38.3 million pounds). Brantano, which was originally founded in Flanders in the 1950s, is said to the UK's biggest out of town value footwear retailer, with 140 stores and 61 concessions throughout the country, whilst Jones has 110 stores in prime locations as well as 13 concession stands.

"We're very excited by this latest investment which marks Alteri's first equity deal in the UK," said Gavin George, chief executive officer at Alteri. "Since launching at the end of 2014, we're delighted with the progress we've made in building our investment and lending portfolio, and we look forward to partnering with other retailers across the European retail sector."

The sale confirmation comes amidst less positive news for Macintosh Group. Macintosh’s sales slipped once more during the third quarter of 2015. The company reported a turnover of 113.4 million euros during the same period last year. However, this year saw the company’s Q3 revenue drop 5 million euros to 108.4 million euros. With the sale of Jones Bootmaker and Brantano, Macintosh is now one step closer to achieving its aim to focus on the footwear marketing the Benelux.