Kurt Geiger, the British shoe retailer, has been bought by American apparel giant The Jones Group for £215m in cash.
The Jones Group has completed the purchase from private equity firm Graphite Capital, which, according to reports, has made a profit of around £120m from the sale.
Kurt Geiger’s senior management team, led by chief executive Neil Clifford and buying and creative director Rebecca Farrar Hockley, are expected to receive £20m as a result of the deal. They will also retain an undisclosed stake in the company, and maintain active involvement in their current roles.
The acquisition builds on a long-standing distribution agreement, which has seen Kurt Geiger distribute The Jones Group’s Nine West brand in its UK stores.
While The Jones Group will now be able to directly promote Nine West across Europe, it will also open a string of stand-alone Kurt Geiger stores in the US – adding a luxury element to its existing mid-market offering.
Wesley R. Card, The Jones Group chief executive officer, said that the “addition of Kurt Geiger to Jones is consistent with our strategy of identifying companies with best-in-class talent and proven brands that have the potential for substantial growth.”
Since being purchased by Graphite from Barclays Private Equity in 2008, Kurt Geiger has grown revenues by 70%, while the number of stores has doubled.
The company is renowned as the creator of brands such as Kurt Geiger, Carvela and KG, and the distributor of luxury labels such as French Connection and Lipsy, as well as Nine West. Its operation currently encompasses 49 company-owned retail locations and department stores, backed up by 156 multi-branded shoe concessions in the likes of Harrods, Selfridges and House of Fraser.
Neil Clifford said that he and the other Kurt Geiger managers “are confident that (in The Jones Group) we have found the right strategic partner to help evolve our business. We look forward to leveraging our global infrastructures to bring the Kurt Geiger and The Jones Group brands to more audiences worldwide."