Bench owner Americana bought by Germany’s Emeram
GERMAN private equity investor Emeram Capital has acquired Manchester-based Americana International – owner of the Bench fashion brand – for an undisclosed sum.
Sources in the corporate finance community indicated that previous owner HgCapital is likely to have booked a heavy loss of the disposal having paid £190m to back a secondary buyout from ISIS Equity Partners in 2007.
Hg, which ran several failed sale processes before concluding this deal, saw initial traction with Americana after hiring former Umbo chief executive Peter McGuigan to embark on an expansion drive into Europe and Canada.
He departed suddenly in late 2012, and the most recent accounts for Americana International Holdings told a picture of falling sales and earnings, with the group still carrying more than £150m of debt.
In a statement the new owner said: “The last 18 months has seen a strategic review of the business culminating in an exciting more focused brand proposition for Autumn/Winter 2014 and beyond; showcased recently at the major international trade shows, including Bread & Butter Berlin and Project Las Vegas, the new proposition provides a solid platform and direction for the future growth of the Bench brand.”
Kai Obring, partner at Emeram said: “Impressively, Americana has established Bench as a successful international brand. We will build upon this strong foundation and continue to develop the business with its unique position as a multi-purpose city clothing brand.
“We look forward to supporting Americana with this next step and realising Bench’s full growth potential.”
A spokesman for Emeram said the company’s 300 staff, suppliers and distributors would not be affected by the deal.
The equity capital was provided by Munich-based Emeram’s maiden fund. The deal was supported by Deloitte which served as a corporate finance, financial and tax adviser.
While led out of Munich, a team at Deloitte’s Manchester office led by partners Richard Bell and Dan Wright provided financial and tax vendor due diligence services to Americana.
The deal is Emeram’s second acquisition. The fund was set up in 2012 to invest in medium-sized businesses mainly in German-speaking countries. Americana was bought because of Bench’s strong presence in Germany.
