Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen invests in FNG

Government investment fund Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV) will invest 15 million euro in fashion group FNG in return for 5 % of its shares. The money will go towards international expansion.

Success in difficult market

PMV’s investment is good for FNG, CEO Dieter Penninckx said, especially in its search for larger investors. “Small investors are easy to find”, he told De Tijd. “But it is difficult to find major investors.”

The fashion industry is under tremendous pressure and that makes it harder to find major investors. That is also the reason PMV intervened, because its goal is to invest in industries that are struggling. “We have chosen for FNG because it has already previously proven to have chosen a successful strategy in difficult times”, PMV’s Roald Borré. said.

Move abroad

FNG will use the money to speed up the introduction of its remodeled Brantano formula and to move abroad more quickly. The company launched its new Brantano formula about a year ago and it has already been introduced in sixty percent of its store network. The other stores will be remodeled in the next few months.

It will also open a CKS store, the first of the group in Spain. It also opened a Claudia Sträter store in Germany several weeks ago. The group’s collections have already been introduced online and in several department stores. The company will also soon target France as its new market abroad.

eCommerce is another important growth area for the company. “Our eCommerde division keeps growing. Still 10 to 20 percent in the Netherlands and Belgium is doing even better”, Penninckx said. A large part of its online sales are through external partners, like Zalando and bol.com. “Sales through external partners are a third of our online sales.”