Michael Kors wins battle to acquire Jimmy Choo

Fashion company Michael Kors acquired luxury shoe brand Jimmy Choo for 896 million pounds (1 billion euro).

1 billion euro

Owner JAB Luxury put Jimmy Choo up for sale in April and one billion euro was immediately mentioned as a possible fee. Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital also expressed an interest in Jimmy Choo, but Michael Kors finally captured the brand.

Michael Kors bought the company at a time it does not perform as well itself. Over the past few quarters, its own store network faced lower turnover and it recently decided to shut down about 125 stores. It will expand into men’s fashion and invest more in its online channels too.

With Jimmy Choo, it now acquires a company that is back on the right track. After a highly successful period in the nineties, it suffered a turnover drop in the very important Asian market. Luckily, the Brexit and the lower pound helped lower its pricing abroad and improved its sales, across shoes, perfumes, cosmetics and several accessories. Thanks to that, its 2016 profit grew nearly 15 % to 364 million pounds (407 million euro).