Kränzle & NRW acquire trouser specialist Gardeur Group

The three parties have agreed to transfer the shares immediately after receiving the relevant official approvals such as from the anti-trust board. Kränzle Beteiligungs GmbH will take over a 51% company stake in the Mönchenglad- based trouser specialists GARDEUR as a majority shareholder. NRW.BANK investment fund will acquire 49%.

In addition to the purchase price – that the parties have agreed not to disclose – the buyers have undertaken to provide the company with equity capital amounting to EUR eight million, thereby allowing the trousers specialist to continue the strategic re-orientation initiated by Gerhard Kränzle in 2011. This also means product development, verticalisation and in-house production can be further optimised. The existing banking consortium will continue at GARDEUR’s side with external funding.

“Since I joined in December 2010, my team and I have charted the course of sustainable growth through the re-orientation of our strategy and brand management. This is evidenced by the outstanding economic results posted over the past months. On the way there, CAPCELLENCE was an important and trusted partner,” says Gerhard Kränzle.

He adds “Our employees have entered into this process of change with heart and soul investing a great deal of energy and I look forward to expanding our charted growth strategy long term also as a majority shareholder, now together with my new partner, NRW.BANK investment fund.”

The two Co-Managing Directors at GARDEUR GmbH, Frank Schulte-Kellinghaus and Marcus Kraft, will each hold a 7% share in Kränzle Beteiligungs GmbH.

In 2011, GARDEUR management together with its co-workers started to sustainably strengthen the company through a change in strategy. This process of change primarily focused on verticalisation, improvements to the supply chain and processes as well as a re-focusing of all activities on the brand core and the target group.

This is why today the trouser specialist develops its collections on the basis of a market-research driven framework plan managing retail areas in-depth. These vendor-managed retail spaces posted some 12% sales growth in 2012 and 11% over the first six months of 2013.

Since 2011 the company has also invested several million Euros in quality-focused products and manufacturing processes as well as training schemes at its own production site in Tunisia. Combined with the optimised supply chain the company is now capable of designing, manufacturing and delivering a pair of trousers in just 4 weeks!

2008 saw the founding families Janssen and Roesner sell the company to the Hamburg-based CAPCELLENCE Group. CAPCELLENCE supported the management around Gerhard Kränzle in their new strategic approach for GARDEUR and funded it with additional equity.

“The strategic re-orientation pursued over the past two and a half years headed by Gerhard Kränze is now bearing fruit and holds still further potential. Kränzle now asumes the entrepreneurial responsibility and will lead GARDEUR following its tradition of an entrepreneur/owner-managed company into the growth phase we have jointly worked towards – and we are proud of that,” says Spyros Chaveles, Managing Partner at CAPCELLENCE.

Gardeur