Birkenstock Interviewing Banks for Potential IPO: Sources
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Birkenstock is getting ready to make its move.
Sources told WWD the German sandal brand’s key owner — private equity giant L Catterton — is meeting with bankers as it prepares to explore options for the business, including a potential initial public offering.
More from WWD
While one financial source said the shoe company could move to go public this fall, another suggested that timing would be ambitious.
Regardless, Birkenstock is said to have gone from strength to strength lately as its comfy sandals resonate with consumers keen to stay casual post-pandemic.
A spokeswoman for L Catterton, which describes itself as the largest consumer-focused private equity group in the world, declined to comment on Thursday.
The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investor bought control of Birkenstock along with Financière Agache in 2021 — and while the valuation was never revealed, it was said at the time to be around 4 billion euros.
The blockbuster deal gave luxury titan Bernard Arnault two main points of contact at the brand as L Catterton counts his LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton among its backers and Financière Agache is his family investment vehicle.
That means Arnault, if he wanted to own the brand outright, would have a head start on any competition, although there are very few investors other than Arnault or one of the other luxury titans who are able to buy fashion brands at that scale.
As for an IPO, much will depend on the market for new offerings, which went from red hot in 2021 — when Dr. Martens, On Holding, Allbirds Inc. and Warby Parker Inc. went public — and into a deep freeze last year when investors were thrown by inflation, the war in Ukraine and economic uncertainty.
Recently there have been signs of a thaw in the consumer IPO space, even though the economic environment remains uncertain.
The for-profit thrift store Savers went public last month, as did Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant Cava Group Inc. Likewise, beauty and wellness tech company Oddity Tech filed for an offering and Italian footwear company ACBC is gearing up to file for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which could take place early next year.
That’s a lot of companies testing the waters.
If it did go public, Birkenstock would make a big splash and signal a major comeback for the market, which gains momentum with each new offering.
The process would also unveil Birkenstock’s financials for the first time, fleshing out the industry’s understanding of what is a singular fashion story. The brand is one of the oldest and traces its roots back to 1774, when Johann Adam Birkenstock was listed as “cobbler” in the church archives of Langen-Bergheim.
Birkenstock has played on that heritage as well as its anatomically shaped footbed to carve out a unique niche in fashion, through collaborations with the likes of Rick Owens and Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God or ads featuring Manolo Blahnik.
With that fashion profile, Birkenstock has a little bit of everything — a well-known brand, deep heritage, comfortable footwear, big designer connections, big finance connections and, maybe soon, a stock ticker.
There are certainly plenty of other brands watching the market closely and trying to gauge their own opportunities, although few companies can boast anything like the longevity Birkenstock has enjoyed.
Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, which is also backed by L Catterton, is seen as another IPO candidate, along with Kim Kardashian’s Skims. Then there are companies that were said to be thinking of an IPO back in 2021 but never made the jump, such as Kate Hudson’s Fabletics, as well as other private equity-backed brands, including the Permira-owned Reformation.
But as the class of 2021 IPOs discovered, going public is just the first step. With the bright lights and big money of Wall Street comes investor scrutiny and new pressures to perform.
Just ask Allbirds, Rent the Runway, Olaplex, Warby Parker or Dr. Martens. They all went public in 2021 and of the bunch, Dr. Martens has held up the best — with a stock decline of about 74 percent.
Best of WWD
