Nov 8, 2022
Peninsula Capital and the Percassi Group have signed a binding agreement to acquire 40% stake in MC2 Saint Barth, a leading Italian brand in the holidaywear segment
Peninsula Capital (“Peninsula”) and Antonio Percassi (“Percassi”) have signed a binding agreement to acquire 40% stake in MC2 Saint Barth (“MC2” or the “Group”), a leading Italian brand in the holidaywear segment.
The strategic partnership with Massimiliano Ferrari and Raffaele Noris, founders of MC2 Saint Barth, aims at accelerating the Group's global growth through a major roll-out program in the U.S., Middle East and Asia. The two entrepreneurs will remain Co-CEOs of the Group, in line with the past.
Founded in 2003, MC2 Saint Barth is a major reference brand in the holidaywear segment. The company was born with a clear focus on beachwear for men, whereas over the years has been able to diversify its offering towards women and kids and successfully launching in 2018 its first winter collection.
In recent years, the Group has developed an omnichannel growth strategy by combining the physical presence in the world's most exclusive tourist destinations, thanks to a network of more than 53 monobrand boutiques and the presence in the most prestigious international department stores (Harrods, Galeries Lafayette, Saks Fifth Avenue, La Rinascente, etc.), with a strong online positioning through its proprietary e-commerce that generates more than 15 percent of the Group's turnover.
MC2 expects to close 2022 with nearly 80 million euros in revenues, an increase of more than 45% over 2021, confirming the high historical growth rates (+32% CAGR2017-21) and the great brand's development potential.
Massimiliano Ferrari and Raffaele Noris commented: “We are delighted to welcome Peninsula and Percassi into the Group. We believe that their contribution, both financial and managerial, and their network will enable a strong acceleration in the global development of a brand that is already well established in the Italian and European markets”.
Antonio Percassi stated “We are extremely positive about MC2's future and we fully share the values and vision of the two founders. We believe that the company is at a turning point to consolidate becoming a truly global brand and we are ready to dedicate our retail expertise in order to replicate once again the success stories that we have been leading in the past, in partnership with Peninsula, a fund with which we built a solid relationship during the KIKO experience”.
Peninsula commented “We strongly wanted to reach this agreement with Max and Raffaele because we believe in the future potential of Saint Barth, a company with a unique and distinctive positioning and a strong potential for global growth. This transaction is part of a long series of investments in the retail and fashion sector for Peninsula, which has acquired strong expertise in the sector, and we are confident that we will bring significant value to the Group's expansion. Percassi's direct co-investment in the transaction will be key to the success of the roll-out strategy and confirms the strength of our partnership developed also following the recent investment in KIKO”.
Peninsula has been assisted by Mediobanca as M&A advisor, Bain & Co for the due business diligence, EY for the financial and tax due diligence, White & Case per for the legal due diligence and transaction documentation.
MC2 Saint Barth has been assisted by Ethica Corporate Finance as M&A advisor and by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.