Galeries Lafayette fully acquires La Redoute

Galeries Lafayette is taking over La Redoute entirely. In 2018, the French department store group already took a majority stake in the online retailer; now it will also acquire the other shares.

Takeover completed

Galeries Lafayette will get full and exclusive control of the online retailer after taking over the remainder of the shares – 49 % currently is still largely owned by Nathalie Balla and Eric Courteille, who bought La Redoute in 2013 and turned the former mail-order company into a successful e-commerce player. The company’s employees own another 19 % of the shares, but are now also selling their stake.

The transaction does not come out of the blue, French newspaper Le Figaro points out: in 2018, the Moulin-Houzé family who owned Galeries Lafayette, stepped into La Redoute. At the time, it was agreed that the takeover would take place in two phases and that a complete buyout would follow at a later date. It is now known that it will happen before the summer. How much the new owner will pay has not been announced.