GLAS bondholder group aiming to sell 29% equity stake at fashion company SMCP (updated)
29/10/2021 11:17
(Adds further detail and background)
PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The GLAS group of bondholders has
taken a 29% equity holding in French fashion company SMCP
SMCP.PA , whose brands include Sandro and Maje, and it will
then look to sell the stake, in a move that could result in an
ownership change at SMCP.
The ownership of SMCP has been the subject of speculation
after a unit of its majority owner Shandong Ruyi 002193.SZ
defaulted on some bonds, which resulted in GLAS moving in.
Shares in SMCP were up 2% by 1000 GMT.
"SMCP reminds that this situation does not affect its own
financing and operations. Value creation for all of the group's
stakeholders (shareholders, employees and other partners) is at
the heart of the company's strategy. SMCP and its teams remain
fully committed to the implementation of the One Journey
strategic plan to 2025," SMCP said in a statement on Friday.
SMCP added that the GLAS bondholder group, besides aiming to
sell off its 29% equity stake in SMCP, would also look to change
the board at SMCP.
Shandong Ruyi, which held around 53% of SMCP, once harboured
ambitions of creating an empire that would rival that of luxury
behemoth LVMH LVMH.PA .
It began purchasing labels in 2015, a buying spree that
would see it acquire London-based suitmaker Aquascutum, Savile
Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes and Paris-based fashion house Cerruti
1881, but has struggled under the weight of debts resulting from
those acquisitions.
The sprawling Chinese conglomerate's financial difficulties
worsened with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China and
it failed to secure financing for a $600 million deal to
purchase Swiss luxury shoe and accessories firm Bally last year.
SMCP's fortunes have contrasted with that of its owner
Shandong Ruyi, which recently bounced back from the coronavirus
crisis, with sales up 54.6% on an organic basis, fuelled by
appetite in China for its contemporary French fashion, following
a drop in sales of 24% last year.
Isabelle Guichot recently replaced long-time SMCP chief
executive officer Daniel Lalonde. Shandong Ruyi acquired the
group from private equity firm KKR in 2016.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mimosa Spencer;
Editing by Jason Neely and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))