Courir is a leading French retailer of sneakers.

Founded in 1980, Courir has built strong and longstanding partnerships with major brands, including Nike, Adidas, New Balance and Puma, enabling the group to offer exclusive product lines, limited editions and capsule collections as part of its wide range of products.

With over 320 stores across Europe, including one of the largest store networks in France, and a growing omnichannel approach, Courir has rapidly established itself as a leading retailer in lifestyle and fashion footwear, particularly amongst women and young people.

VALUE CREATION

Equistone has worked closely with the management team to support Courir’s carve-out from Groupe Go Sport, which involved a 15-month investment programme to enable Courir to operate on a standalone basis and included the implementation of new IT infrastructure and the recruitment of a CFO, an e-commerce manager and a senior digital advisor. 

Courir has achieved significant geographic expansion outside of France, opening 20 stores in Spain, 22 in Belgium, five in Portugal, three in the Netherlands and two in Luxembourg. Further expansion resulted from the group completing its first add-on acquisition of Denmark-based online retailer, Naked in July 2021. 

A strong focus on investing in Courir’s digital development led to the appointment of a non-executive director to accelerate this strategy. As a result, Courir has developed a growing omnichannel approach combining e-commerce, web-to-store and store-to-web sales, which has generated a three-fold increase in digital sales.

Overall, revenue has significantly increased, from €390m in 2018 to €735m in 2023, and the group employs over 2,500 people across Europe.

EXIT

Equistone sold its investment in Courir to JD Sports, a global omnichannel retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands

Karavel Groupe is one of the largest tourism groups in France.

The group’s three brand platforms are FRAM, Promovacances, and ABcroisières, which, together with a network of 170 physical agencies across France, offer online package holiday deals at 250 clubs and resorts, as well as over 500 tour packages worldwide.

Karavel Groupe’s successful multi-channel strategy means its online platforms attract more than 7 million unique visitors each month and assist nearly one million customers annually.

Since our investment, Karavel Groupe has doubled its revenues to over €1 billion and expanded its workforce to more than 1,000 employees.

VALUE CREATION

Initially, Equistone backed the management team’s plans to develop a new, more flexible travel offering, along with continued expansion through add-on acquisitions. In particular, Karavel Groupe pursued the acquisition of Thomas Cook agencies in France, which completed in 2019. 

With the onset of the Covid pandemic affecting the entire travel industry, Equistone continued its support throughout the crisis with five follow-on capital commitments and also assisted with raising over €50m of state-guaranteed loans and subsidies, as well as a direct governmental loan, both in 2020 and in 2021. In parallel, Equistone supported the group’s strategic initiatives to develop direct online sales, reposition its renowned ‘Club’ offering, and improve its IT systems while the industry was in shutdown.

As a result, Karavel Groupe rebounded successfully after the pandemic and is now in a strong position in the French travel market, with several competitors having either been forced to scale down operations or not withstood the challenges during the pandemic.

EXIT

Equistone sold its investment in Karavel Groupe to a consortium comprising Montefiore Investment, Ceres Industries Capital and CFJ (Compagnie Financière Jousset).

Dugas is a leading French wholesale distributor of premium spirits.

Founded by François-Xavier Dugas in 1980, Dugas offers one of the widest ranges of exclusive and premium brand name spirits in France and specialises in the fast-growing rum and whisky segments.

The business sources its products directly from distilleries around the world, and actively supports them with branding, product and trade marketing, education and distribution services.

As a recognised market expert, Dugas is able to offer product advice to its customers as well as promote new brands, which are replenished on a regular basis. As a result, the business has established a diverse and multichannel network of customers, which include c. 4,000 wine merchants as well as leading hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes, cash & carry stores, generalist wholesalers and mass market retailers.

VALUE CREATION

Working in partnership with Equistone, Dugas has combined significant organic growth with a selective acquisition strategy in order to expand its geographic coverage and develop own-label brands alongside over 100 exclusive brands and distilleries.

In 2018, Dugas acquired Les Rhums de Ced, a French manufacturer of flavoured rums, and supported its growth, notably through a major extension of the production site in 2022. 

Equistone managed the succession of the founder, François Xavier Dugas, who was replaced by Tom Van Lambaart when he retired at the end of 2021. Tom strongly supported the group’s transformation to absorb the increase in volumes related to the development of mass-market retail for both own-label and represented brands.

Since Equistone’s investment, Dugas has seen its revenue increase from €45m in 2017 to €69m for the financial year ending December 2022.

EXIT

Equistone exited its investment in Dugas to Stock Spirits Group, a Polish spirits business majority-owned by funds advised by CVC Capital Partners.

Charles & Alice Group is a leading French manufacturer and distributor of fruit products and plant-based desserts.

Equistone exited its majority stake in Charles & Alice Group in July 2021 and reinvested in a minority position through its dedicated Reinvestment Fund alongside long-term shareholder, Crédit Mutuel Equity.

Since it was launched in 2011, Charles & Alice Group has grown into a market leader in chilled ‘no-sugar added’ fruit products and plant-based desserts.

The group distributes both branded and private label products to retail chains in Europe, North Africa and the US, as well as the French food service segment.

Headquartered in Southeast France, Charles & Alice Group employs over 500 people and has two production sites close to its fruit orchards, along with a greenfield manufacturing site in Pennsylvania in the US.

VALUE CREATION

Equistone has worked in partnership with Charles & Alice Group to develop its brand presence through marketing initiatives and innovative product launches as well as supporting the group’s plans for international expansion.

In 2015, the group expanded its geographic footprint by investing in a greenfield manufacturing site in Pennsylvania to serve the US market. Primarily, the plant provides private label products to US retail chains.

Additional organic growth has been achieved through the launch of several new initiatives to expand its branded product range, and in 2019 Charles & Alice Group acquired a minority share in Happy Coco, a Netherlands-based vegan products specialist.

In 2021, the group built a new production site in France to improve efficiency and expand production capacity to meet customers’ increased demand.

The group demonstrated strong revenue growth, with turnover increased from €120m in 2013 to €161m for the financial year ending 31 December 2020.

EXIT

Equistone sold its investment in Charles & Alice to Crédit Mutuel Equity.

Maisons du Monde is a French home decoration products retailer.

Created in 1996, Maisons du Monde has experienced rapid growth in France where it has become a leader in home decoration retail, with c. 160 outlets and more than €200m sales.

EXIT

Equistone sold Maisons du Monde in a secondary buy-out backed by Apax Partners and LBO France, with management reinvesting in the new transaction. The exit generated strong returns for Equistone and its investors.

Interflora is a well-established florist brand in France.

The business is a leader in the French market with a network of over 5,200 florists processing 1.8 million orders per annum and generating turnover in excess of €100m.

VALUE CREATION

During the investment period, Interflora maintained strong relationships with its network of florists and developed e-commerce orders.

EXIT

21 Centrale Partners completed an MBO of SFTF Interflora for an undisclosed amount, allowing Equistone to divest its stake in the company.