Carlyle sells Golden Goose to Permira

The deal gives Golden Goose an enterprise value of €1.28bn, equal to around 15.5x its 2019 EBITDA and 13x the EBITDA expected for 2020, Unquote understands.

The sale follows an auction process launched in July 2019 by the GP and led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In addition to Permira, bidders included Advent International, Cinven, Apax Partners and Eurazeo, according to press reports.

Permira is currently investing from Permira VII, which held a final close in October 2019 on its hard-cap of €11bn. The fund targets both majority and strategic minority investments in companies operating across the technology, consumer, financial services, industrial and healthcare sectors.

Permira has a long track record in the consumer sector, with 33 investments so far, for a total value of €9.6bn. One notable investment in that was British footwear brand Dr Martens, bought in 2014 for an EV of €380m.

Carlyle acquired Golden Goose in February 2017 from majority shareholder Ergon Capital Partners, holding company Zignago Holding, the company's founders and management team members. The GP deployed capital from Carlyle Europe Partners IV, a $2.24bn Europe-focused, upper-mid-market buyout fund, and Carlyle Asia Growth Partners V.

The deal valued the business at €400-450m at the time, almost 10x the company's 2017 EBITDA. Permira was one of the bidders in the auction process led by Lazard, among other private equity firms including BC Partners, Lion Capital, Charme Capital Partners, Chequers Capital Partners, General Atlantic and Riverside.

Under Carlyle's ownership, the company boosted its growth and increased its revenues from around €100m in 2017 to €260m in 2019.

Previous funding
Italian buyout house Syle Capital – formerly known as DGPA – and private equity firm Riello Investimenti, bought a 75% stake in Golden Goose in March 2013 in a €40m deal.

Subsequently, Ergon acquired a majority stake in the business in May 2015 via Ergon Capital Partners III from Syle Capital and Riello, investing alongside the company's founders, in a deal understood to be worth around €100m.

As part of the deal, Zignago acquired a minority stake, the founders retained a 13% stake and the management team a 3% stake.

Company
Established in 2000 and based in Venice, Golden Goose specialises in luxury sneakers, as well as clothing, bags and accessories. The company has operations in Europe, the US and Asia, manages a network of 100 directly owned stores and an online platform.

Golden Goose generated EBITDA of around €82m from revenues of €260m in 2019 and expects to reach EBITDA of €100m in 2020.

People
Permira – Francesco Pascalizi (partner).
The Carlyle Group – Massimiliano Caraffa (managing director).
Golden Goose – Silvio Campara (CEO).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Southern Europe
• Consumer
• Carlyle Group
• Permira
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• Secondary buyout