There’s another fashion heritage name on the auction block.
Luvanis, an investment company based in Luxembourg that specializes in identifying and buying the trademarks of major fashion names gone dormant, announced on Tuesday that it would sell the Paul Poiret brand.
Along with Chanel and Schiaparelli, Poiret is one of the most iconic (and here the word is used accurately) names in 20th-century fashion. Or, in fact, of fashion of any era.
There is nothing classic about Luvanis’s sale strategy, however: Initial expressions of interest are being accepted online and are to include a nondisclosure agreement that can be downloaded from the Paul Poiret website. Interested parties should “provide details of your organization” the website says, “or, if you are a private buyer, a brief background on your business interests, notably in luxury.”
Arnaud de Lummen, director of Luvanis, said in an email: “The idea, in making the sale process public, is to attract a wide spectrum of potential bidders, not to discuss the opportunity with a selective list of investors.”
Mr. de Lummen has hired Savigny Partners, a boutique investment banking firm in London, to help with the sale.
Savigny knows its way around luxury names: It was the financial adviser behind the sale in 2011 of a majority stake of the Belgian leather goods brand Delvaux to Fung Brands of Hong Kong. It was also an adviser in the sale last year of a majority stake in the British luxury shoemaker Nicholas Kirkwood to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
According to William Plane of Savigny, the preliminary vetting of bidders for Paul Poiret will end Nov. 14. Approved bidders will then have access to an online space with details about the trademarks and archival materials. The deadline for initial bids, which are to be made offline, is Nov. 28. Luvanis wants to close the deal by the end of the year.
“Paul Poiret never ceased to be timely,” Mr. de Lummen said. “With the increasing convergence between fashion and art, it is a great moment for Poiret to return to business.”
Mr. de Lummen began acquiring the rights to the Paul Poiret name in 2010. This year, he succeeded in buying the remaining rights, which had been dispersed around the world.
As it happens, Mr. de Lummen has made something of a specialty of finding, acquiring and reselling old French fashion names.
The bag and trunk maker Moynat, which Groupe Arnault bought in 2010? That was a deal by Mr. de Lummen. The Vionnet fashion brand, which is currently owned by Goga Ashkenazi, was revived by Mr. de Lummen and then sold to the Italian entrepreneur Matteo Marzotto.
Mr. de Lummen owns the rights to a number of glossy names, including the fashion brands Mainbocher and Maggy Rouff and the shoemaker Herbert Levine, but Paul Poiret is probably the most famous of its holdings. The designer who gave his name to the brand was the subject of an exhibition in 2007, “Poiret: King of Fashion,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The brand has effectively been dormant for 80 years, but creating a luxury brand from scratch is an expensive and lengthy endeavor.
I would bet that big luxury groups like LVMH, Kering and Richemont, as well as private equity firms, will stay away from this one. Potential bidders are more likely to be Asian sovereign wealth funds or individuals, from whence much current interest in luxury doth flow.
Mayhoola for Investments, the private investment vehicle of the Qatari royal family, bought Valentino in 2012. Qatar Holding owns Harrods, as well as stakes in Tiffany, LVMH and Porsche. Investcorp, which is based in Bahrain, bought Georg Jensen in 2012.
Indeed, this could be a good one for First Heritage Brands, an investment arm of the former Fung Brands. Run by Jean-Marc Loubier, a former LVMH executive, First Heritage Brands has a few revivals already in the works (aside from Delvaux, it also owns Sonia Rykiel and Robert Clergerie).
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the year a majority stake of the Belgian leather goods maker Delvaux was sold to Fung Brands. The sale was in 2011, not 2012. The article also misstated the year Groupe Arnault bought Moynat. It was in 2010, not 2011.