Allegedly Chinese Shandong Ruyi group are very close to buy Bally, the Swiss historic footwear brand, as reported by Bloomberg’s confidential sources. In fact, their bid, 700 million dollars, is meant to outdo their competitors: Fosun International (they own Club Med) and Fujian Septwolves Industry, focused on apparel. Shandong Ruyi are in control over Trinity (the owner of Gieves & Hawkes, the British clothing brand) and Aquascutum: in October, they announced the acquisition of American Invista’s Apparel&Advanced Textile division (Lycra, worth 2 billion dollars); in 2016, they had bought out SMCP (Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot). Bally is run by JAB holding, which had taken over in 2008 after TPG: since they are planning to focus again on food industry, they have been selling their fashion assets, such as Jimmy Choo, purchased by Michael Kors, and Belstaff, bought by Ineos. According to Bloomberg analysts, Shandong Ruyi aims to become a luxury top player: thanks to their latest financial operations (including their stepping into Australian wool industry business), they moved up to n.16 in the luxury world rankings.
Chinese Shandong Ruyi are very close to Bally, as Bloomberg claims that buyout is almost done
