Deal in focus: Karmijn acquires Fred de la Bretonière

Dutch designer Fred de la Bretonière established his eponymous company in 1970 and made a name for himself in the Netherlands with his original line of ladies' shoes, bags and accessories such as wallets and belts.

In the last decade, de la Bretonière increased his company's offering with two new brands: Shabbies Amsterdam – which stands for shabby chic boots, its main product line – and sneaker brand Fretons. Now, the company is looking to expand further abroad.

"This is a household name in the Netherlands," says Désirée van Boxtel, a partner at Karmijn. "It's a very well-known brand for shoes, bags and other leather accessories. It's one of the few big shoe and bag brands that we have in the Netherlands and it's very well known for its authenticity and use of almost old-fashioned, hand-worked leather – like the leather used for saddles."

Kapitaal kick
Karmijn has acquired a majority stake in the business, buying shares from the founder and owner, Fred de la Bretonière. "He is 69 and will turn 70 in a few weeks," notes van Boxtel, "so he has stepped down from the management team. But he already has a very good team in place, so we saw it as a great opportunity for a buyout."

Following retirement from his management position, de la Bretonière will, however, remain with the company in a designer role. "Of course, there is already a design team of five who have been with the company for a long time, but he will join them to keep on designing," says van Boxtel.

The company is headquartered in Waalwijk and currently has 160 staff, 120 of whom are employed full-time. The company's turnover is believed to be in the tens of millions of euros.

The company operates 11 brand-only stores across the Netherlands and has recently opened its first store in Belgium. The brands are also sold in shoe and fashion stores across Germany, Belgium, Scandinavia and Canada.

"That's what very much attracted us," says van Boxtel. "It has a really outstanding position in the Netherlands, selling through lots of retailers both online and offline, but also through its own shops in the Netherlands and Belgium."

Stepping into new territories
Karmijn's plans for the company are predominantly focused on spreading the brand name into new geographies. "The strategy for the company is very much internationalisation. We've done a lot of research and we found that lots of European markets are really into these kinds of products," says van Boxtel. "They are long-lasting products from someone who started making them 45 years ago, and that's why it's interesting to buy this company."

Karmijn will not take a seat on the company's board of directors. "We are an active investor, but we stay as an investor and not a director, so we won't be involved operationally," she says. However, the firm will be looking to make changes to the structure of Fred de la Bretonière's management team. Currently, the company's COO and CFO are jointly performing the role of CEO.

"We will add a chief commercial officer to the company," says van Boxtel. The new CCO will become the company's CEO. "We are looking for someone who will be responsible for sales and marketing. We believe that the growth should really come from international sales and marketing."

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