Belgian sewing and accessory chain Veritas has found a new lease of life through a takeover. A group of existing and new owners are investing in new stores in the Netherlands, but already eye Germany and Scandinavia.
Successful turnaround
In 2019, a group consisting of CIM Capital, investment fund Mezzanine Partners and a couple of local entrepreneurs bought the then ailing Belgian chain. Giving the reins to Corneel De Maeyer proved a golden move: he succeeded in realising the necessary turnaround – and even expanded to the Netherlands. Even better: the pandemic earned the chain its “best daily revenue ever”, through the sale of face masks.
The owners saw their task as complete and wanted to pass the torch to new acquirers, but that process did not go smoothly. This summer, negotiations with negotiations with Gilde Equity Management stranded just before the finish, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports. An alternative solution is now found, the newspaper continues. While the current management and a number of the current owners reinvest, dozens of Belgian businessmen join in as well.
The aim is to enable Veritas to expand to eighty Dutch stores through franchising, and move towards Germany and Scandinavia at a later stage. Ten years ago, the chain had already tried to make it in France, but those attempts failed in the end. Veritas hopes to achieve a hundred million euros in sales and an EBITDA of ten million this year.
