Chinese investment group now owns fashion chain Naf Naf

French fashion chain Naf Naf, part of the Vivarte group, has a new owner. A chinese group, led by fashion group La Chapelle, paid 52 million euro to acquire it.

474 points of sale

Vivarte was Naf Naf’s owner for slightly more than a decade. Georges Plassat, who went on to lead Carrefour, was the one who bought it in 2007. Founded in 1973 by Parisian brothers Patrick Patrick and Gérard Pariente, Vivarte paid 200 million for it back then.

Naf Naf has now been sold to a investment group led by La Chapelle, China’s largest women’s clothing seller when it comes to the cheaper end of the market. It will be La Chapelle’s first foreign investment, but it is a giant in China, with 9,448 stores, 37,544 employees and a 1.2 billion euro turnover in China itself. The acquisition fee was 52 million euro.

According to Vivarte, La Chapelle will open 500 Naf Naf stores in China in the next five years and another thirty in Europe. Naf Naf currently has 474 points of sale and 1,200 employees.

Part of major restructuring

The Naf Naf sale is part of French retail group Vivarte major restructuring program. It has to clear away a 600 million euro debt and already sold shoe chains André and Pataugas and women’s clothing brand Kookaï. It is also ready to sell Besson (shoes) and Chevignon (men’s fashion).

CEO Patrick Puy wants to turn Vivarte’s attention to five core brands: La Halle, Minelli, San Marina, Cosmoparis and Caroll. The money from this sale will go towards its most important asset: La Halle. That retailer generates one billion euro in turnover (on an overall 1.8 billion euro group turnover), but suffers a great deal from its competitors H&M and Primark, but also from the internet.