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Owner of the brands Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga, the luxury giant Kering put up for sale on Monday October 5, nearly 6% of its capital at Puma. Since 2018, the group has been gradually withdrawing from brands such as Yves Saint Laurent Beauté and Sergio Rossi. This time it is Puma’s turn with the sale of nearly 8.8 million shares in order to refocus on its core Luxury activities.
The French number two in luxury is selling off 5.9% of its shares and cashing in on more than 600 million euros, when the block of shares is put up for sale online Monday on the website of the French group, headed by François-Henri Pinault, for 74.50 euros per share, a figure below the current market price (78 euros per share yesterday on the Frankfurt stock exchange).
Kering’s shares in the German manufacturer then fell from 16 to only 9.8%.
The sale of these shares by the French group and Artémis, a holding company controlled by the Pinault family, is being carried out within the framework of a placement planned shortly with qualified institutional investors, according to the group’s latest press release.
It was in 2007 that the luxury goods giant took control of the German equipment manufacturer, and eleven years after it decided to sell it.
Its objective? By adopting a new strategy, the company wants to refocus on its initial activities in the luxury sector: “The net proceeds of the transaction will be allocated to the general needs of Kering and will further strengthen its financial structure”, the group said, while continuing to grow the emblematic houses it still owns.
A decision that the group had already taken in 2018 when it began to sell 70% of Puma’s capital.
This follows years that were inconclusive according to the members of the group’s management, when some of the group’s activities no longer fit together very well.
Kering wanted to break away from Puma, particularly following the 52% drop in its share price on the stock market in March 2020, even though the latter had managed to recover and make up all its lost ground with a 92% increase in just six months, a figure close to the brand’s historical record.
Read also > KERING : ULYSSE NARDIN AND GIRARD-PERREGAUX WILL CUT 100 JOBS BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER
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