Fashion
French luxury group LVMH is acquiring a 60% stake in Off-White, the label of designer Virgil Abloh who has been responsible for Louis Vuitton's men's collections since 2018.
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Through investment company L Catterton, Bernard Arnault's luxury group LVMH is acquiring a majority stake in Milan-based fashion house Etro.
Cosmetics
Colruyt Group acquires the shares of the minority shareholders in Newpharma. In doing so, the family of the same name acquires full control over the web pharmacy.
Swiss group Richemont, owner of luxury brands like Cartier, is acquiring Belgian handbag pioneer Delvaux, aiming to lead the leather goods label into the next phase of development.
General
After more than a year of bickering, EssilorLuxottica is paying the full price for Pearle parent GrandVision. During the Covid crisis, the acquirer accused his future partner of mismanagement, but now all seems to be rosy again.
JD Sports Fashion has acquired 80 % of the shares of Spanish e-tailer Deporvillage, through its holding company Iberian Sports Retail Group.
Food
Norwegian holding company Orkla is to acquire a 75% stake in Dutch pizza chain New York Pizza. The company has its own branches in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and also supplies pizza dough to other companies.
A new episode in the saga of eyewear chain Grandvision and EssilorLuxottica: a Swiss arbitration court has ruled in favour of the latter. As a result, the Italians can call off the takeover without paying substantial damages. However, it seems more likely that they will renegotiate the deal.
The American investment company Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has attempted to buy British supermarket chain Morrisons, but its bid of 5.5 billion pounds (6.4 billion euros) was rejected.
Belgian dairy cooperative Milcobel has taken over cheese packaging company Kaasbrik and, in doing so, strengthens its position in mozzarella - a large and growing market.
Online marketplace Etsy, which specialises in vintage and homemade stuff, is taking over second-hand fashion platform Depop. With this deal, the creative marketplace hopes to reach a younger audience.
Furniture
Danish online furniture brand Sofacompany has a new owner: it is now part of Lars Larsen Group, which also owns Jysk and Bolia. The company continues to sail its own course, however.
Italian food group Ferrero expands its biscuit empire further. The company has taken over the popular British biscuit producer Burton's Biscuits via its Belgian holding company CTH Invest.
French-Italian eyewear group EssilorLuxottica is pushing ahead with the sale of 350 stores - including all GrandOptical branches in Belgium - to complete its deal with GrandVision. According to Bloomberg, investment banks Lazard and Mediobanca have to get the lot sold before the increasingly tight deadline, the end of July.
The German-based fashion giant Peek & Cloppenburg is taking over Magasin du Nord. The Danish retailer, until recently owned by Debenhams, will continue as an independent chain.
Sweet Products, the parent company of ice cream producer IJsboerke and chocolate brand Jacques, is hopeful to take over Cémoi, France's largest chocolate manufacturer. The takeover would triple the group's turnover.
