German e-tailer Mytheresa has said that it has received clearance to acquire Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) from the European Commission. With this, the company has now secured all necessary approvals from regulatory authorities to move forward with the sale and plans to close the transaction by April 23, 2025.

Mytheresa had first announced its intention to takeover 100 percent of YNAP’s share capital from its current owner Richemont in October 2024. Through the merger, the combination of Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet will come under the umbrella of the newly formed group ‘LuxExperience BV’, contributing to the e-tailer’s wider mission of building a “leading global multi-brand digital luxury group”.

Richemont CFO to join Mytheresa’s supervisory board

Upon closing, Mytheresa said it would issue new shares to Richemont representing 33 percent of its fully diluted share capital, while Richemont has agreed to sell YNAP with a cash position of 555 million euros and no financial debt to Mytheresa. Richemont has also agreed to provide a six-year 100 million euro revolving credit facility to YNAP and is to add its present chief financial officer, Burkhart Grund, to the supervisory board of Mytheresa.

The combined business, LuxExperience, has been valued by Martin Beer, chief financial officer of Mytheresa, at three billion euros GMV per annum. However, the company is aiming to grow the business to a four billion euro GMV firm, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of over 8 percent. Beer noted that while the consolidation of YNAP will "initially dilute our EBITDA margin at group level, we are uniquely prepared to achieve a fundamental transformation and return the YNAP business to profitability”.

With this, Mytheresa is planning to initiate a restructuring that is anticipated to take 24 to 36 months. Mytheresa, Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter are to continue as three individual store brands, maintaining their own identity while sharing central infrastructure resources. The off-price division, meanwhile, consisting of Yoox and The Outnet, will operate separately to ensure a “much simpler and more efficient operating model”.

Leadership overhaul

To coincide with the closing of the transaction, Mytheresa is preparing to overhaul its leadership team. While group level functions will be consolidated into a shared group-level infrastructure, dedicated managers are to be put in charge of each store brand. An additional transformation function at group level will also be established to “steer group-wide transformation”.

Next to Beer, Michael Kliger will take over as chief executive officer and managing director of LuxExperience. Kliger most recently served as Mytheresa CEO, a role he will maintain “for the time being”. Many members of his current Mytheresa team will also retain their current titles while stepping into the LuxExperience business. This remains true for everyone but Gareth Locke, who will change from Mytheresa’s chief growth officer to become chief data and analytics officer; Richard Johnson, who will become chief business officer; and Francesca Tranquilli, who currently serves as YNAP’s president online flagship store and now will take on the role of chief transformation officer for LuxExperience.

For individual brands, Heather Kaminestsky has been named CEO of Net-a-Porter; Toby Bateman as CEO for Mr Porter; Mirko Nobili will become CEO of Yoox; and Sabah Naqushbandi is to be managing director of The Outnet.