Robert Clergerie, a French footwear fashion brand, change ownership. In fact, French Legacy Group, a private equity fund, have bought out the historic brand formerly controlled by First Heritage Brands and by manager Jean-Marc Loubier.
Still they have not made public the financial particulars of the deal. Following Sonia Rykiel, First Heritage Brands withdraw from luxury footwear and keep playing actively in the leather goods trade only, thanks to Delvaux.
Clergerie change ownership
Despite economic crisis and instability, brought about by Covid-19, French Legacy Group considered the present time to be the right one to buy out Robert Clergerie along with the whole of their assets.
For example: the historic factory, located in Romans-sur-Isère, the stores (five in France and two in London) and the boutiques in Madrid, Geneva, New York and Los Angeles.
For Footwear News, the French fund is part of Mirabaud Asset Management, a Swiss financial big corporation: in December 2018, they created a fund, namely Mirabaud Patrimoine Vivant, focusing on luxury and lifestyle. Here are some of their investments, among others: Le Coq Sportif and footwear brands Carel and Carvil.
According to Mirabaud website, some of their partners are Renaud Dutreil, former French Minister of Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (and ex-President of LVMH North America), and David Wertheimer, the son of Gérard Wertheimer, one of Chanel’s owners.
Who is selling?
The first Heritage Brands, a Chinese fund led by Fung family, together with Temasek, another investment fund headquartered in Singapore, are the ones who sold Clergerie. FHB had bought out Robert Clergerie in 2011: in the same year, they also purchased Delvaux, a Belgian leather goods manufacturing company. FHB also controlled Sonia Rykiel.
Read also:
- “I love the smell and Italian factories”: Tourniaire-Beauciel, leather, and the shift in direction toward sneaker made by Clergerie
- Delvaux speed up in retail and jobs: “We hired 500 leather goods dealers in 5 years”
