Akathektos continues its development and expansion plan Kiko Milan in Greece and abroad the Faiss group, remaining unaffected by international developments and the mega deal of the Italian low cost beauty brand with the Louis Vuitton group.
LVMH-backed investment firm L Catterton has agreed to buy a majority stake in Kiko Milano from the Percassi family in a deal worth around €1.4 billion that also includes the Italian brand’s debt.
From Benetton to Kiko Milano
It all started with Antonio Percassi, when in 1976 he met Luciano Benetton and a year later he opened the first Benetton store in Bergamo. Thus marking the beginning of the activities of the now Percassi company in the retail sector and a thirty-year partnership with the Benetton family, which over the years will lead to the management of the most important stores of the Benetton Group in Italy and around the world for brands United Colors, Zerododici, Sisley and Playlife.
If the collaboration with Benetton was the first important collaboration responsible for the development of the Percassi company, another milestone that confirms the company’s affirmation at an international level includes the joint venture with Inditex. The group led by Amancio Ortega, who in 2001 looked to Antonio Percassi to help the famous Zara brand enter the Italian market. Opening of the first megastore in Milan, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, followed by the opening of additional Zara and Zara Home stores, as well as other brands of the Inditex Group (Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius).
Other major retail development partnerships led by founder Antonio Percassi in retail development include those with Swatch, Nike, Levi’s, Calvin Klein Guess and Tommy Hilfiger, in addition to luxury brands such as Gucci, Ferrari and Ralph Lauren.
In 1997 he decided to create his own original brands, starting with Kiko Milano which was developed by his son Stefano, as one of the most successful projects in the business landscape in recent years, as it combines professional quality and affordable prices with more than 1,200 makeup, beauty and skin care products, as well as limited edition thematic collections.
In the cosmetics industry, Percassi is also present with Bullfrog barber products and Womo men’s cosmetics.
In 2007 Antonio Percassi started another project in the men’s world when he started a partnership with Flavio Briatore, creating the clothing brand Billionaire Italian Couture, in which he remains a 50% shareholder.
Today, the Percassis own the Serie A football team Atalanta, while they are active in the real estate retail sector, they carry out commercial activities in Italy for companies such as Starbucks, Nike, Gucci and Victoria’s Secret. With offices around the world, the company has 9,000 employees.
The Percassi family
The Greek success story
Faces Group was the first to bring the low cost beauty brand to Greece, as an exclusive distributor, in 2020, through the subsidiary SLF East Europe. The first store was opened in The Mall Athens, followed by the eshop in early 2021, while the continuation was very fast: physical stores in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Nicosia, Larnaca, Paphos and Sofia, pop-up and shop-in-shop stores in large shopping centers – today it has reached 25 points.
In the immediate plans are the creation of new stores within the next quarter in Xanthi and Corinth (within the Mare West shopping center), in Serres and in Komotini later. Likewise, the signing of the agreement for the Bulgarian market is expected in the next period of time, with the eyes of the Faiss group also focused on Romania, where from 2021 the corresponding subsidiary has also been established.
During its first fiscal year (2021), Kiko Milano exceeded 3 million euros in sales, with a total of only 5 stores, while 2022 and 2023 marked the development of the chain at an intensive rate inside and outside the Greek borders, exceeding expectations beyond expectations. It is indicative that the performance of SLF Greece reached 8.4 million euros in turnover last year.
The takeover
The Percassis will retain a “significant” stake in Kiko Milano, according to Reuters, as the outlook for the beauty industry is excellent. Its revenue rose 20 percent last year to about 800 million euros, and it has more than 1,100 stores in 66 countries, while the global beauty market is expected to grow to $128 billion by 2032 from $78 billion last year, Fortune Business predicts Insight.
“The quality, accessibility, personalized advice and packaging design of the innovative products are the distinguishing elements of the brand,” said Kiko Milano CEO Simone Dominici, about the brand which, in addition to physical stores, also sells online and some of its products are best sellers apart from the dynamic Gen Z audience and across all age groups.
Dominici said Kiko Milano will expand in the United States with the support of L Catterton and her senior adviser John Demsey – a former Estee Lauder executive who developed the MAC Cosmetics brand before resigning over an Instagram scandal.
L Catterton’s investment giant
The American multinational private equity firm was founded in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1989 and has made over 250 brand investments across all sectors of the consumer industry. The company is currently headed by J. Michael Chu and Scott Dahnke.
Its original form until 2001 was Catterton Partners, the firm that between 1992 and 2002, invested in well-known consumer brands in the US, including PF Chang’s, Odwalla and Baja Fresh.
He has completed investments in numerous growth consumer businesses, including Peloton, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Ferrara Candy Company, Outback Steakhouse, Restoration Hardware, Wellness Pet Company and Kettle Foods. In fact, in 2008, it launched its first growth fund aimed at investing in early and late-stage growth companies, such as Vroom, Sweaty Betty, Il Makiage, Sweet Leaf Tea Company and Tula.
In January 2016, Catterton, LVMH and Financière Agache (the family office under the name Groupe Arnault), collaborated to create L Catterton.
This partnership was based on the combination of Catterton’s existing private equity activities in North and Latin America with the pre-existing European and Asian private equity and real estate activities of LVMH and Groupe Arnault.
In May 2021, Private Equity International listed L Catterton as the 32nd largest private equity firm in the world based on funds raised over the previous five years. Just consider that in 2020, it raised over $5 billion for its ninth buyout fund and over $950 million for its fourth growth fund. It has also backed several notable investments, including Birkenstock, Indian tech giant Jio Platform, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Peloton, Nature’s Variety, Pinarello, Freetrade, Miami Design District, Cover FX and Ginza Six.
It has also already invested in more than 30 beauty brands, including Intercos, an Italian make-up manufacturer that supplies top luxury brands, British skin care company Elemis, Japan’s ETVOS, hair care brand Maria Nila and consumer technology company Oddity.
Source OT
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