With more than a thousand employees, IKKS Group—alongside its eponymous brand and the labels One Step and ICode—remains one of the leading players in France’s premium ready-to-wear sector. Even so, the group’s placement into administration in early October sent shockwaves through the industry, not least because it emerged that its principal shareholders, the American groups Avenue Capital, CarVal Investors and Marathon Asset Management, were seeking to sell the company.

With numerous takeover bids filed with the registry of the Paris Economic Activities Court, October’s assessment was confirmed in November. The case is complex, as bids target different entities within the group including IKKS Groupe, IKKS Invest, HOLDIKKS, Onesikk and IKKSRetail. Taken together, these developments help clarify the position of the French group, which, according to its 2024 accounts, operated around 550 stores across nine countries, including 230 affiliated locations, and employed roughly 1,300 people.

To date, no fewer than ten bids have been submitted. None envisages acquiring the group in its entirety. however, some proposals are well advanced, with a more finely honed brand strategy. It is noted that, within the group, the IKKS brand accounts for 80% of revenue; 64% of its sales are to women, 21% to children and 15% to men. Retail represents 77% of activity, B2C and B2B e-commerce contribute 20% of revenue, and wholesale just 3%. Against this backdrop, three bids envisage takeovers of significant scope.

This includes the bid from the current HoldIKKS chairman, Santiago Cucci, and Veepee co-founder Michaël Benabou. They plan to take over the company’s operations while maintaining 141 points of sale, including 88 directly operated stores, and 391 direct jobs. Their offer includes a contribution of 500,000 euros at completion, together with a short-term financing package of 15.5 million euros to support the brand’s redeployment. It also states that the children’s business would be put on hold, while development of the recently reworked IKKS offer would focus on the French network.

For its part, Verdoso, which acquired The Kooples last year, plans to take over 224 stores, including 99 branches, 113 affiliate contracts and 12 department-store corners. The proposal includes the transfer of 556 employees from IKKS companies in France and sets a sale price of 110,000 euros. Alongside several partners, Verdoso intends to create a new entity, New IKKS, to be led by Rémy Baume, the current CEO of The Kooples, to redevelop IKKS’s business, while the children’s business and the One Step and ICode brands would not be relaunched. The project also provides for an investment package of nearly 17 million euros supplied by GA Europe, a specialist in corporate turnarounds.

Finally, Amoniss, the company of Salih Halassi, who has been working since mid-2023 to relaunch the Pimkie chain, is offering 500,000 euros for the takeover. The company plans to retain at least 168 stores in France, including 88 branches and between 90 and 108 affiliated locations. Its proposal also includes maintaining 10 affiliated stores in Belgium and Spain. The project, refocused on IKKS’s womenswear and menswear lines, provides for the transfer of 393 employees on permanent contracts. The financing required for the relaunch is estimated at 9 million euros.

Among the other bids are players who have been particularly active in reshaping France’s fashion landscape. Faguo, for instance, proposes taking over 13 stores and 32 employees for more than 100,000 euros, and has seen the Beaumanoir group back its bid to acquire three stores for its Caroll and Morgan banners, and, above all, to acquire the brand name. The Breton group, however, specifies that it is not currently considering any opportunity to relaunch the brand. That said, the move appears strategic for the family-owned group, which is offering 1 million euros for the acquisition of the brands and, moreover, budgeting an investment envelope of 2.6 million euros for five stores.

AA Investments, which recently acquired Smallable, L’Exception, Bonne Gueule and We The New, has positioned itself to take on 10 employees and all intangible assets of the IKKS Group companies for 30,000 euros. Other players are proposing asset acquisitions for amounts ranging from 1 euro to a few hundred euros.