Bally, founded in 1851 by Swiss industrialist Carl Franz Bally, is best known for its high quality shoes. Today, the business has evolved into a global brand, introducing ready-to-wear clothing as well as bags and other leather goods. The business retails through about 250 namesakes stores and in total more than 750 points of sale worldwide.
TPG bought Bally in 1999 for SFr200m, at which time it was operating at a significant loss, then spent five years restructuring it before the shoe company made a profit in 2004. The transaction is expected to close this summer following customary regulatory approval. Rothschild, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton acted as financial and legal advisers respectively to TPG and Bally and BNP and Oppenhoff & Partner for Lablelux.
Geoservices for sale
Private equity firm
Cerberus backs away from Agfa-Gevaert
Last December, Cerberus was linked with a possible buyout of the whole of the Belgian group, or some of its parts. Some of today’s reports state that Cerberus may still be interested in Agfa’s graphics division. Late last year, De Standaard put the value of the imaging group at €2.6bn (US$3.78bn).