European mid-market private equity firm 3i and funds it manages have agreed to acquire Agent Provocateur, the UK-based luxury brand lingerie retailer founded in 1994 by husband and wife te
European mid-market private equity firm 3i and funds it manages have agreed to acquire Agent Provocateur, the UK-based luxury brand lingerie retailer founded in 1994 by husband and wife team Joseph Corré and Serena Rees. The private equity firm is reportedly paying GBP60m for an 80 per cent stake.
Agent Provocateur products are sold in 14 countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East. In addition to lingerie, it has launched fragrances and recently added shoes to its product range, and has established an e-commerce business.
According to 3i, its funding will enable Agent Provocateur to pursue further growth. Although both founders will remain shareholders in the business, 3i says Rees is leaving ‘to pursue new opportunities’ while Corré will remain the company’s creative director.
Rees says: ‘From the conception of Agent Provocateur in Soho in 1994, we have provoked thought and reaction, we brought lingerie to the forefront of fashion, brought sexuality out into the open and have given sex a sense of luxury.’
Hamleys Group chairman Stuart Rose – no relation to the chief executive of Marks & Spencer – will head the Agent Provocateur board, drawing on his experience of international retailing, franchising and brand development as deputy chairman and managing director of The Body Shop.
‘Agent Provocateur is an exceptional company, which over the past 13 years has built a unique business,’ Rose says. ‘I am looking forward to help develop its position and building its brand across multiple channels.’
Jennifer Dunstan, a partner with 3i’s buyouts business, says: ‘Agent Provocateur has a fantastic reputation and is already well established throughout Europe. We believe there is enormous potential for the business to continue to grow and look forward to using both our retail experience and our global network to help achieve this ambition.’
Adds Corré: ‘This new phase in the development of Agent Provocateur will give us the operational and financial platform to realise the company’s potential so that it takes its rightful position as the world’s most dynamic luxury lingerie brand.’
3i focuses on buy-outs, growth capital, venture capital, infrastructure and quoted private equity investment in Europe, the US and Asia. With more than EUR8bn in funds under management and a portfolio of more than 60 companies in Europe, 3i’s buyouts business invests notably in the media, healthcare, consumer, business support services and oil, gas and power sectors. The firm says 3i Eurofund V, which raised EUR5bn last year, is the largest fund in Europe dedicated to mid-market buyouts.
