Qatar Holding acquires stake in Vente-Privée

Qatar Holding, the global investment fund controlled by Qatar Investment Authority, has acquired a minority stake

in the French e-commerce company. Founder and CEO of the online retailer Vente-Privée.com, Jacques-Antoine Granjon has also increased his stake in the company and holds close to 25 percent of the ownership, according to French newspaper Le Monde.

Qatar Holding, parent company of luxury British department store Harrods joins the Summit Partners in holding a minority stake in Vente-Privée, a US-based equity firm who has been a minority shareholder of Vente-Privée since 2007.

“We are happy to have agreed terms to finalize our investment in vente-privee.com alongside Jacques-Antoine Granjon, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in France. We will fully support his efforts to drive the Company in its new phase of development... It is envisaged that our investment will translate into the development and globalization of vente-privee.com as a French champion in the e-commerce sector,” declared a spokesperson for Qatar Holding in a press release

The size of the stake acquired by Qatar Holding remains unknown, but over the past years the company has acquired a number of retail and luxury estates. Vente-Privée was founded in 2001 and specializes in the online sale of branded collections, organizing special sales events for its 20 million members. In 2012 the company reported a gross turnover of 1.3 million euros and predicted 1.5 million euros for 2013.