McGregor: chronicle of a struggling fashion group

Bankrupted Dutch fashion group McGregor is set to make its restart as Doniger Fashion Group under the leadership of the owners who previously led the group into bankruptcy. The newly formed group, which sees the brand's Adam Menswear, Gaastra and McGregor merged together as part of the group's new portfolio, is held by new and old shareholders Marcel Boekhoorn, Jeroen Schothorst, Ben Kolff and bank NIBC.

McGregor makes restart as Doniger Fashion Group

Schothorst and Kolff first founded McGregor Fashion Group in 1993, together with Victor Muller, when they acquired the distribution rights of the then bankrupted American fashion brand. Schothorst remained at the helm of the company until a few months ago, when Armin Broger was named CEO, despite being found guilty of using insider knowledge during McGregor Fashion Group IPO in 1999 to avoid a fall in stock price and paying a 200,000 euro fine in 2006 when the group went private. McGregor Fashion Group first applied for a suspension of payments on June 10, after financial issues arose when the shareholders stated they had no money to finance the new management plans for the group. This led to the fashion group applying for bankruptcy for 11 of it 50 divisions.

On July 15, news broke that an agreement had been reached between the curator and shareholders to make a restart as a new group, under the name Doniger Fashion Group, which would be led by a new management team Joep van Straaten and Kris of Mierop. According to the court appointed curator Marc Van Zanten, the decision to sell the group back to its owners was the best decision for everyone, including its employees, shareholders and suppliers. However, when Van Zanten first approached the four shareholders to see if they were interested in financing McGregor’s restart, the four are said to have turned up their noses.

...under the same leadership which led McGregor into bankruptcy

The curator went on to organize a sale or bidding ‘war’ for the Dutch fashion group, which drew interest from 50 parties, including investment firms Alteri and Apollo. 7 companies made a bid for the bankrupted group, but Van Zanten stresses that all bids made for the fashion group were less than its market value and that the interested bidders were keen to split up the group. Afterwards the group owners made a bid, which according to Van Zanten was “substantially higher” than the previous bids and would protect the most working opportunities, reported the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant.

Local trade unions have voiced concerns over the restart, suggesting that the owners are using the bankruptcy as a smart way of cutting loose unwanted staff, as many employees hold a zero-hour contract. Trade Union FNV said the restart was premeditated and CNV said the decision left a bad taste in their mouth. Although the new group has denied using the restart as a means to an end, Dongier Fashion Group will continue with marginally less staff than originally intended. Shareholders and curators previously announced plans to keep on 1,100 employees in total out of 1,400 members of staff. Within its home market of the Netherlands, the new group intended to keep 500 of its 800 roles.

However, following the restart, the group has backtracked on this number as news emerged this weekend that only 377 roles within the Netherlands will be kept on, following negotiations between the new management team, which consists of CEO Joep van Straaten and Kris Mierop and Marc van Zanten, court appointed curator. Employees who have been in service longer will be offered a new contract and 123 ‘veterans’ will keep their roles. Trade union director Rose Rahimi from the CNV said to Nu.nl that she was “happy with each job retained,” but adds that a mere “improvement from a deterioration.”

Photo: McGregor website