LONDON — Less than a month after announcing it was looking for strategic options, Jimmy Choo has been sold.
The luxury footwear and accessories company based here, which had appointed NM Rothschild to investigate future financial options, said in a statement Friday that the European private equity investment firm Hicks Muse has agreed to acquire a majority stake.
The deal values Jimmy Choo at 101 million pounds, or $187 million at current exchange. Neither party would comment on the percentage stake that Hicks Muse has taken in Jimmy Choo.
Under the terms of the transaction, Robert Bensoussan will continue as chief executive officer of Choo and Tamara Mellon will continue as president. Mellon and her family still retain a significant stake in the firm, while Bensoussan has a minority one. Mellon’s family bought Choo from its former designer, Jimmy Choo, and expanded it into ready-to-wear footwear from bespoke while also increasing its offerings to include handbags and small leather goods. It also opened Jimmy Choo stores in London, New York, Paris, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas.
Three years ago, Phoenix Equity Partners, through its fashion acquisitions arm Equinox Luxury Holdings, purchased a 51 percent stake in Jimmy Choo.
Over the past three years, Bensoussan and Mellon have built a global retail and wholesale network for the brand, in addition to getting their goods onto the right stars at red-carpet events. Sales this year are expected to reach 40 million pounds, or $74 million.
“It’s been a very long day, but this is just fantastic,” said Bensoussan in a telephone interview. “The purchase by Hicks Muse guarantees that the management team can continue running the business successfully. Now, with a very big private equity firm behind us, we can accelerate growth.”
Lyndon Lea of Hicks Muse Europe called Choo a super-iconic brand. “We are excited to work in partnership with Robert and Tamara and their exceptional team to continue to support the dynamic growth of the Jimmy Choo brand.”
Separately, Bensoussan has split from Phoenix Equity Partners, a London-based private equity fund manager that focuses on midmarket U.K. businesses. Equinox was the fashion arm of Phoenix Equity. For three years, Bensoussan ran Equinox with an eye toward making other investments in addition to Jimmy Choo.
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“I’m not with Phoenix anymore, but we remain friends,” Bensoussan said.