German Fashion Group in €1.5 Billion Sale

Cleary Gottlieb represented the founding shareholders and former owners of German fashion group CBR Holding in Cinven and Apex Partners’ secondary private equity sale of CBR to EQT for €1.5 billion. In 2004, CBR’s founding shareholders sold CBR to Cinven and Apax. The deal was announced on February 22 and closed on April 24.

CBR is a women’s clothing company with a network of 850 partner stores selling CBR’s three brands: Street One, Cecil and One Touch. The group generated sales of over €600 million in 2006 and has more than 500 employees.

EQT is a Swedish-based private equity group with operations in northern Europe and greater China. EQT currently manages €10.5 billion in 10 funds, and EQT funds have invested €5 billion in about 50 companies. Cinven is a private equity group headquartered in London. Apax Partners is a private equity investment group operating across the United States, Europe and Asia. Apax advises funds in excess of €15 billion.