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Kaporal is the subject of five takeover bids, which will be examined on June 22
Placed in receivership on March 30, 2023 due to economic difficulties, the French fashion brand Kaporal is looking for buyers or investors to bounce back. Candidates had to make themselves known to the bodies involved in the procedure before May 22. Owned since 2013 by TowerBrook Capital Partners (based between London and New York), the Marseille-based denim specialist is the subject of several takeover offers, "four of which seem to be serious", the company told FashionNetwork.com.
The identity of the candidates for the takeover has not been officially announced, but the company, which was founded in 2004, states that one of them is "from Kaporal managers", without providing any further details.
Local media outlet Gomet' reports that five offers have been made: that of two of the company's managers, Nicolas Ciccione and Thierry Bongiovanni, who would like to maintain the brand's current network, as well as another Marseille-based fashion brand, Le Temps des Cerises, which has its eye on eighteen shops, as well as the Franco-Tunisian company Guerrida Habib (Guerrisol thrift shops).
The founder of Kaporal, Laurent Emsellem, who left the company in 2014, is also said to have made a takeover offer. Finally, a partial bid was submitted by the destocker Noz, which is only interested in stocks.
34 employees and 113 shops in France
The examination of the bids by the Marseille Commercial Court is set for June 22. The applications can be improved up to two days before the hearing. The decision will then be made in July.
Kaporal employs 534 people and runs a network of 113 shops in France, plus a handful of units in Belgium. The brand's turnover for women, men and children amounted to 99 million euros in 2022 (of which 20% was generated online), down from 120 million before the crisis.
In a press release published in March, the brand's management, led by Laurence Paganini, explained that it was "facing an exceptional financial situation characterised by unprecedented economic difficulties" and that it was "no longer in a position to pay its debts alone." The search for a new investor had been launched a few months ago, but had not been successful.
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