Adds vendor declining to remark SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) -
Adds vendor declining to remark
SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest stated his personal firm purchased bootmaker R.M. Williams from a fund backed by French vogue large LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE LVMH.PA, returning possession of the famed vogue label to its residence nation after six years.
In a press release, the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd FMG.AX founder and main shareholder stated he was “extremely proud and humbled” to deliver again the manufacturing icon which had “an extended and proud historical past of high-quality Australian craftsmanship”.
Forrest didn’t disclose a value however the Australian Monetary Evaluation reported it was about A$190 million ($135 million). That might signify a mark-down from the roughly A$500 million that native media reported was R.M. Williams’s valuation when LVMH-backed personal fairness agency L Catterton put the asset up on the market in 2019.
When L Catterton took over R.M. Williams in 2014, the Outback-themed firm was valued at about A$104 million. A consultant for the unit of the French vogue large declined to touch upon Monday.
Vogue retailers around the globe have skilled a pointy decline in gross sales for the reason that COVID-19 outbreak prompted border closures and stay-home orders as governments tried to gradual the unfold of the virus.
For 88-year-old R.M. Williams, which has 900 workers in Australia, that meant briefly closing its Adelaide manufacturing unit. It has since reopened most of its 68 stores that are largely on the nation’s east coast.
Australian swimsuit maker Seafolly Pty Ltd, additionally backed by LVMH, appointed directors in June, citing a gross sales downturn from the coronavirus.
($1 = 1.4102 Australian {dollars})
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Modifying by Lincoln Feast)
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