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Clothing & Shoes

Hong Kong’s Lion Rock joins race for Clarks

A Hong Kong-based private equity firm, which backs a number of companies such as Taxi hailing app Hailo and Serie A football giant Internazionale, has reportedly entered the race to acquire Clarks.

According to Sky News, Lion Rock is one of the remaining two potential bidders vying for a majority stake in the family-owned shoe retailer and faces competition from equity firm Alteri Investors.

It is thought that any deal will likely see the Clark family retaining a stake in the family, although this could potentially be below 50% depending on how talks progress.

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Reports suggest that talks are set to conclude next month as the retailer aims to inject cash into the business to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The news comes after Clarks announced the launch of its long-term ‘made to last’ strategy that is designed to ensure that Clarks has a “sustainable and successful future” back in May.

The move which aims to make the business more sustainable resulted in around 900 members of staff being made redundant.

At the time, CEO Giorgio Presca said that the new strategy aims to deliver a new organisation with an end to end operating model that will enable Clarks to “deliver its strategy in a lean, effective and quick manner”.

He said this will require a total reduction in the company’s global workforce of approximately 900 corporate roles, partially balanced by the creation of around 200 new roles. It is expected that approximately 700 employees will leave the business over 18 months.

As such, he announced 160 immediate redundancies in Clarks’ operations around the world, including 108 at its headquarters in Street, Somerset, and confirmed that the company is actively supporting staff to find alternative employment within or outside of Clarks.

The announcement was the latest phase of Clarks’ ‘made to last’ strategy that began at the end of last year when 170 employees left the business globally.

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