"Why invest in fashion in Spain? Because there is tradition and industry and there are prospects for a recovery in consumption after years of contraction; fashion is a sector that has the best companies in the world and, consequently, the best talent in the world," says Fernando Elío Dolz de Espejo, investment director at ProA Capital.
Proa Capital seeks fashion investments in Spain
Proa Capital, fund of private equitywhich has been operating since 2007, is now looking for opportunities in Spanish companies in the fashion sector, thus entering a new sector. The group is currently in negotiations to close two operations in the sector.
So far Proa Capital has participated in 15 investments involving more than €300M of equity investment and more than €1000M of total disbursement. Among the sectors in which it has invested so far are health, food, ICT and sports, but it has not made any investments in the fashion sector.
Perhaps recent successful divestments in the sector have served as an incentive for Proa Capital to enter the sector. Such as the sale of Privalia $500M, in which funds such as General Atlantic, Highland Capital Partners and Sofina participated.
Axon Partners group invests in Coco Lola
We have also recently learned that the venture capital firm Axon Partners is going to invest in Coco and Lola.
Coco y Lola (cocoylola.com) is a fashion and accessories e-commerce platform offering chic designs at affordable prices. In its first 12 months of life, the platform has achieved more than €1.3M in sales.
The investment will be made through the Axon ICT II fund, whose main objective is to support Spanish companies in an early stage of development with international development plans, Axon's speciality. The ICT II fund is mainly supported by the Jeremie funds, managed by IDEA, as well as private investors. Within the same fund, Axon has other success stories such as HotHotels, QaShops, Séntisis or Wayook, among others.
C&L will take advantage of this injection to consolidate its position as one of the leading companies in the e-commerce sector focused on a mainly female audience. This investment will also allow Coco y Lola to start looking abroad, as all sales are currently made in Spain.
Italmobiliare buys Roberto Cavalli owner Clessidra
In the international market we also see movement in "fashion" private equity. The investor Italmobiliare has bought for $20M the investment fund Clessidra, owner of the fashion label Roberto Cavalli and that of jewellery Buccellati.
For the Italmobiliare group, which manages a diversified portfolio of equity investments worth more than €2 B, the transaction allows it to diversify its investment portfolio and represents a great opportunity for the development of activities in the private equity sector.
Clessidra bought 90 percent of Roberto Cavalli just over a year ago, in March 2015, after years of negotiations by the Florentine fashion house with several candidates.
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