Tel Aviv - Delta Galil is to acquire leading French men’s underwear group Eminence.
The US$125 million deal includes French brands Eminence and Athena, Italian clothing brand Liabel, and a number of subsidiaries in Europe.
An upmarket French brand, Eminence has the second largest men’s underwear market share in France, and offers products ranging from undergarments to polo and technical shirts to Eminence Tech+. Athena adds a sporty and athletic, family mass market French undergarment brand to Delta's current portfolio while Liabel, an Italian brand, founded in 1851, offers mass market t-shirt and underwear.
Eminence has around 750 employees including 500 in France, 195 in a plant in Romania, and 60 in Italy. The group's headquarters and development, design, and logistics centers are in France.
In 2017, Eminence Group’s net sales totaled approximately €99.0 million, with most of the products designated for men (87%) and the remainder for women (8%) and kids and babies (5%).
Most of the Group’s sales are to the French market (approximately 79% of all sales) and the remainder in Western Europe – mainly in Italy (17%) and in Belgium (3%).
“We are very pleased to look at adding the Eminence Group to our portfolio, as it represents a dominant leader in French men’s undergarments, with strong consumer appeal,” said Isaac Dabah, CEO of Delta Galil. “This is a very compelling transaction for Delta that reflects our strategic efforts to expand our branded business and introduce Delta in a significant way to France & Italy where our activities to date have been small. By providing potential synergies in products, innovation and operations, we see this opportunity as a platform for growth.”
