Birkenstock, the maker of comfortable but decidedly fashionable sandals, is jumping into bed with the king of luxury items
Birkenstock said Friday it will sell a majority stake in its business to L Catteron, a privately held company backed by LVMH, which owns high-end fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
French billionaire and head of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, is also involved in the deal, as is his family investment fund Financiere Agache. The terms of the sale were not disclosed, but it appears to value the German family footwear business at $ 4.855 billion.
While the manufacturer of thick sandals may not seem like an obvious fit for LVMH, the investment comes as the luxury goods maker has been looking to increase its appeal among young people.
This week, Moet owner Hennessy said he got a 50% stake in Jay Z’s Armand de Brignac champagne brand.
And while launching her 2019 deal with Rihanna to create fashion for Fenty in wait “waiting for better conditions,” L Catterton has been involved in the pop singer’s lingerie line.
Birkenstock has a large number of built-in followers that has only grown over the past year, in which it generated record sales, the company said.
The deal aims to help Birkenstock expand into China and India, as well as expand its e-commerce business, the company said in a statement.
Relatives of the founding family, brothers Alex and Christian Birkenstock, will remain in the company along with Birkenstock’s management, the company said.
“Birkenstock was founded almost 250 years ago and has become one of the few iconic brands in the footwear industry. We really appreciate brands with this long heritage, ”Arnault said in a statement.
Birkenstock “is a brand that defines a category and is the classic and iconic brand for it,” Richard Kestenbaum, a partner at Triangle Capital, told The Post. “This has to be appealing to LVMH and their way of thinking about brands is not even strictly luxurious as it is generally defined.”