Flick Gocke Schaumburg advises Birkenstock on a strategic partnership with L Catterton and Bernard Arnault

Flick Gocke Schaumburg has advised Alex Birkenstock on the sale of a majority stake in the Birkenstock Group to L Catterton and Financière Agache. The French-American private equity firm L Catterton is affiliated via Financière Agache with the French luxury products group LVMH, the family-owned holding company of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.

Representatives of the founding family will remain minority shareholders.

Details of the sale are not being disclosed due to confidentiality agreements. The transaction is subject to the approval of the competent antitrust authorities.

Advisors to Alex Birkenstock: Flick Gocke Schaumburg (Bonn)
Partners: Prof. Dr. Matthias Rogall, Dr. Tobias Schwan (both M&A tax), Christian Groth (tax compliance), Dr. Frieder Mörwald (structuring), Dr. Jens Eggenberger (M&A; Bonn, Stuttgart); associates: Dr. Marcel Krengel (M&A; Stuttgart), Sören Schwechel (structuring)

Birkenstock is a global lifestyle brand with a long tradition. With more than 4,300 employees worldwide, the sixth-generation family-run business is one of the German footwear industry’s biggest employers. Birkenstock has 16 sites in Germany and operates its own sales offices in the United States and Canada as well as in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Dubai and India.

With 18 offices around the world and approximately $23 billion of equity capital, L Catterton is the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm.

Financière Agache is a holding company controlled by Agache, the Arnault family’s holding company. The Financière Agache group and its affiliates hold a 97.5% ownership in Christian Dior and are the controlling shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group. Financière Agache also holds a portfolio of diversified financial investments.