HSG buys Italian footwear brand Golden Goose for €2.5bn

Neil Shen’s investment group HSG has bought Italian luxury shoe brand Golden Goose for about €2.5bn, marking a reversal in fortunes after the footwear company was forced to pull plans for an initial public offering. 

HSG said on Friday that it is acquiring a majority stake in Golden Goose from investors including current owner Permira, the London-based private equity firm. Singaporean state-owned investment manager Temasek will take a minority stake in the deal. HSG, the former China unit of US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, acquired Golden Goose at an enterprise valuation of €2.5bn, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The transaction nearly doubles the company’s valuation after Permira, which will retain a minority stake, bought the company in 2020 for under €1.3bn. It also marks a turnaround after the 25-year-old distressed footwear brand pulled a planned Milan listing last year following more than 10 months of preparation. That listing would have given Golden Goose a €1.9bn market capitalisation if it sold its shares at the top of the marketed range. 

In January, an investment group backed by Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai bought a 12 per cent stake in the company at a €2.2bn valuation.  “Last year we decided against doing an IPO,” Permira partner Francesco Pascalizi told the Financial Times on Friday. “At the time we were on the verge of what subsequently turned out to be a pretty challenging backdrop for luxury. In retrospect that was the right call.” The deal marks the second significant asset sale by Permira in recent days, after it sold its majority stake in online marketplace Boats Group. 

The firm has now returned €12.6bn to its backers over the past 12 months, a person familiar with the matter said. Golden Goose’s revenues grew to €655mn in its latest fiscal year 2024, up from €266mn in 2020, boosted by direct sales to consumers. It now operates 227 stores, more than double the number in 2019. Silvio Campara, Golden Goose chief executive officer, will continue to lead the company following the deal. 

The company, which has a strong following among younger consumers, could seek to expand in Asia after the latest investment. HSG will “support the brand as it enters its next exciting chapter of growth — especially internationally — while preserving and celebrating what makes Golden Goose so uniquely Italian”, said Jiajia Zou, a partner at the VC and private equity firm. HSG split off from Sequoia in 2023 over geopolitical issues. It invests globally in the technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.