(News Bulletin 247) – The title of the specialist in accessible luxury is agitated on the Paris Stock Exchange as a change in its shareholding is in sight. Speculation is in full swing on the eve of the presentation of the annual accounts of SMCP, owner of the Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac brands.

The soap opera on the recomposition of SMCP’s shareholding takes a new turn this Wednesday. Market hopes are fueled by AlixPartners UK, which has announced that it wants to sell its 37% stake in the fashion group.

On the stock market, this turmoil leads to a surge in SMCP. The title of the specialist in “accessible luxury” offers a rebound of more than 8%, to be among the strongest increases in the Parisian market, at 7.99 euros.

For a little over a year, the question has come up regularly. In September 2021, European TopSoho had defaulted on a bond loan exchangeable into SMCP shares for an amount of 250 million euros and which represented around 37% of the capital of the leader in “accessible luxury”.

This defect actually led to a change in the capital of the owner of the Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac brands. The creditors of European TopSoho, united under the “trustee” Glas (acting on behalf of the creditors, the BlackRock, Carlyle, Anchorage, Boussard and Gavaudan funds) had thus recovered 29% of the capital to reimburse themselves. And not 37% to stay below the 30% threshold, and avoid triggering a takeover bid.

The sale process could take several months and “will be structured in two phases”, specify the administrators of AlixPartners UK. During the first phase, “which should last approximately two months, it is not expected that potential buyers will have access to non-public material information”, they add.

“At this preliminary stage of the initiation of the sale process, the timing of the sale process, the conclusion of a sale of the pledged shares, the identity of the buyer (or buyers), and the presence of a several buyers for all or part of the pledged shares remain unknown”, advances AlixPartners UK which specifies that it “is impossible at the present time to determine whether or not the transaction will trigger a mandatory public offer”.

Additional information on Thursday?

This speculation on a change of hands of SMCP comes the day before the publication of the annual results of the specialist in accessible luxury. Management has confirmed that it has been informed of Glas’ intention to initiate a process to sell 37% of SMCP’s capital. The “accessible luxury” specialist will probably be expected on this subject in addition to the announcement of its accounts for 2022. In October, the company confirmed its objectives for the past year after recording record sales over the summer period.

For 2022, SMCP is targeting double-digit sales growth compared to 2021, an adjusted EBIT (operating result) margin in line with 2021 (9.2% in 2021) “in a marked inflationary context”, and a net debt ratio below 2 at the end of 2022.