Published
Jun 12, 2015
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Dirk Bikkembergs taken over by Chinese company

Published
Jun 12, 2015

Dirk Bikkembergs’ future will be played out in China. The couture sports brand, which was founded in 1989 by Belgian designer Dirk Bikkembergs, was initially developed in Italy. It was bought in 2011 by the Italian group Zeis Excelsa via the company Levitas and is now being taken over by a Chinese company.

Guangzhou Canudilo Fashion & Accessories, which specializes in men’s retail in China, is purchasing a 51% stake in the brand for 40.68 million euros.

Dirk Bikkembergs, spring-summer 2015 - PixelFormula


The news, which was reported by the Italian press, has been confirmed by the listed Chinese company and by the brand, which will discuss the details of the operation at a press conference at the conclusion of the agreement in July. 

51% of Dirks Bikkembergs will thus be owned by Guangzhou Canudilo and 49%, on a parity basis, will be owned by Zeis Excelsa-Levitas and the Italian company Sinv (owner of the brand Piazza Sempione), which acquired a stake in the brand in early 2015.

Through the agreement, Dirks Bikkembergs, which already owns about twenty locations in China, hopes to accelerate its expansion in the country, where its development will now facilitated. 

Founded in 1997 and based in Guangzhou, the company Guangzhou Canudilo distributes both its own brands and many other labels in China. It was already a multibrand client of Dirks Bikkembergs and plans to sell shares in order to raise the necessary funds for this acquisition. Production, meanwhile, should remain in Europe. 

In 2014, Dirk Bikkembergs generated a turnover of 80 million euros (around 120 million euros for the entirety of the company Zeis Excelsa, which also owns other marks). In two years, the couture sports brand opened 80 stores in 40 countries and currently generates 85% of its sales abroad, mainly in Russia, Germany, France, China and the Middle East.

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