Delvaux Is Up for Sale: Reports
LONDON — Belgian heritage luxury bag-maker Delvaux is looking for a buyer.
The brand’s owner Hong Kong billionaire brothers Victor and William Fung have reached out to potential buyers, and a sale could value the brand at around $500 million to $600 million, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Sources told WWD that the Fungs were originally trying to sell the brand for $1 billion.
The Fungs took a majority stake in the 192-year-old bag brand via its subsidiary First Heritage Brands in 2011 with Singaporean state investment company Temasek.
The brand has since expanded into Asian markets, including China, South Korea and Japan, and opened flagships on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Bond Street in London and in the Palazzo Reina in Milan, as well as a temporary location on the Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.
Delvaux has also accelerated its online business by adding e-commerce services to its U.S and European sites since the pandemic walloped consumer markets around the world. The brand works with JD.com to sell online in China.
At the same time, Delvaux has parted ways with its artistic director Christina Zeller, and shed 26 jobs at its Belgian headquarters, as the brand revealed plans to restructure operations in a bid to increase agility.
Delvaux is one of the few remaining fashion assets the Fung family hasn’t offloaded.
In 2017, Shandong Ruyi bought a 51 percent stake in struggling men’s wear retail unit Trinity — which includes Gieves & Hawkes, Kent & Curwen and Cerruti 1881 — from the Fungs.
French e-commerce entrepreneurs Eric and Michael Dayan bought Sonia Rykiel’s assets, which included the global trademark for all products and categories, and 50 years of archives and prototypes, in 2019 from the Paris commercial court. The house went into receivership in April after First Heritage Brands, which bought Sonia Rykiel in 2012, renounced turnaround efforts and abandoned an attempt at the start of this year to find a new investor.
Last July, private equity fund French Legacy Group acquired the storied French shoemaker Robert Clergerie from First Heritage Brands.
Both the Fung Group and Delvaux did not immediately respond to WWD’s requests for comment.
Related:
Delvaux Could Shed 26 Jobs at Belgian Headquarters
Robert Clergerie Has a New Owner: Sources
French E-commerce Entrepreneurs to Buy Sonia Rykiel Assets