March 9, 2011
Palamon Capital Partners sells dress-for-less to strategic buyer Privalia Venta Directa.
On March 8, it was announced that Willkie client Palamon Capital Partners, one of Europe's leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed to sell online retailer dress-for-less to strategic buyer Privalia VentaDirecta, a leading online sales club for fashion brands headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Based in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt, dress-for-less is one of Europe's largest online designer fashion retailers. Palamon acquired the company in 2007 and embarked on a substantial growth strategy. During Palamon's ownership, dress-for-less achieved compound annual growth rates of more than 35% in revenue and profitability by significantly expanding across Europe, entering the full-price fashion segment and acquiring a specialized online retailer, Kolibri. Today, dress-for-less offers a range of over 13,000 end-of-season clothing and footwear items from 450 designer labels, including leading brand names, to consumers in over 50 countries.
The deal team, led by national partner Dr. Stefan Jörgens, included partners Mario Schmidt and Patrick Meiisel; national partners Rolf Hünermann, Dr. Christian Rolf and Jan Wilms; and associates Ingo Bednarz, Tobias Daubert, Tobias Dietrich, Dr. Markus Käpplinger, Jochen Riechwald, Dr. Stephanie Schmidt-Ehemann, Dr. Octávio de Sousa and Dr. Matthias Werner.
