Sarenza's management takes over the company

Sarenza's management has took control of the site to sell shoes "for tens of millions of euros" on the occasion of the release of existing shareholders who had "liquidity constraints", as the own company has announced in a statement.

"We do not want to take the risk of Sarenza sold to a foreign buyer. We believe strongly in our model of hyper choice, hyper transparency, and hyper service over time and in a face-to-face approach with consumers, employees and partners, and do not want us to be imposed with a management not necessarily compatible with these values," said Helen Supau as published the French site of TechCrunch.

CEO Stephane Treppoz Sarenza and Managing Director Helene Supau, who personally indebted to finance the operation, now control the company, recalls Le Figaro. And in conjunction with the executive committee of the group, they hold more than 80% stake in Sarenza, the statement released earlier this week said.

Up to the date the final amount has not been unveiled, yet market sources consulted by leading French journals point out that it has reached "tens of millions of euros".

Sarenza´s shareholders' agreement provided in effect that investment funds with capital of Sarenza with a solution to redeem their shares in 2012, told AFP Stephane Treppoz, without revealing the exact composition of capital.

"We wanted to preserve jobs", both executives summarised their main reasons to nail this deal. Private equity and venture IDInvest Montisanbert have left the capital, while funds Amundi and Galileo gave up part of their participation, they also said.

Sarenza, whose sales increased in four years from 4 to over EUR 100 million, had been approached by several potential buyers. "Either it was sold, it is us who we are redeemed. We preferred to buy because we wanted to preserve jobs and continue the adventure," management of the shoe company said.

Treppoz and Supau are not shy to share their ambition to "create a leading pan-European e-commerce based in France with a total freedom of action."
 
The operation was financed by Crédit Mutuel and Crédit Agricole Arkéa Brie Picardie.
 
For 2012, Sarenza is growing faster than the e-commerce in France, so at least greater than 15-20%. Selling shoes online has become very competitive in the Hexagon, with others like Spartoo, German Zalando, Javari (Amazon) or Shoestyle (La Redoute). The volume of business Sarenza reached in 2011 has surpassed EUR 100million.

In 2010, 4% of purchases of shoes in France have been made online, according to a study conducted by Xerfi.