FNG Group seeks IPO on Amsterdam stock exchange through R&S Retail

FNG Group, which owns Fred & Ginger, CKS and Claudia Sträter, seeks an IPO on the Amsterdam stock exchange thanks to R&S Retail Holding (Miss Etam), which recently invested in Brantano alongside FNG boss Dieter Penninckx.

Two-step operation

According to De Standaard, FNG Group has asked Bank Degroof to guide the entire operation, which should be done in two separate steps. At first, FNG Group wants to merge with Dutch Rens Van de Schoor’s R&S Retail Holding. That particular holding, which owns the Miss Etam chain, is already on the Amsterdam stock exchange as Dico International, but its share was renamed R&S Retail after a so-called “reverse merger”.

After that, FNG Group would then get an official stock exchange listing thanks to the holding. “An Amsterdam stock exchange IPO is on the table, but we will only know next month whether that is actually possible”, Dieter Penninckx said in De Standaard. The listing should give FNG a more visible and tangible share.

Big in the Low Countries

The move would solidify FNG Group’s transformation from a “Belgian specialist in children’s clothing” into a company with a focus on women’s clothing in the Low Countries. A merger would create a company with a 350 million euro turnover and 2,500 employees.

Founders Dieter Penninckx, Anja Maes and Manu Bracke currently own 66 % in FNG Group, while AS Adventure founder (Emiel Lathouwers) has another 15 % and a group of Econopolis investors (Geert Noels & Co) have another 8 to 9 %. The rest of shares are traded on the Free Market Brussels. Based on its current course, FNG Group is valued at nearly 124.5 million euro.

Dieter Penninckx and Rens van de Schoor became headline news earlier this week when they – together with Wouter Torfs (from Schoenen Torfs) – acquired ailing Brantano from the guardians who are handling bankrupted Dutch retail group Macintosh.