Boards & More has sold the Mistral trademark and global licensing rights to Mistral International BV, a Dutch-based joint venture in which the board sports company will retain a 49 percent stake. The controlling interest of 51 percent will be held by an investment company of Ado Huisman, a former Mistral executive who acquired the apparel licensing rights for the brand in many European countries last year through his company, X-Wear. After the latest transaction, which valued Mistral at €6 million, Huisman is in control of the worldwide rights for all equipment and softgoods under the Mistral brand name.
Mistral underwent several management and strategic changes over the last years, but Boards & More apparently failed to find a satisfactory business model for the brand. Last year it sold F2, another board sports brand, which then went into receivership earlier this year. The other remaining brands in the Boards & More group are North Sails, Ion, North Kiteboarding and Fanatic.
Airesis, the Swiss holding company that controls Boards & More, along with Le Coq Sportif, said that a revival of the Mistral brand required substantial investments and expertise in the apparel business, so it sought a partner in this field. Based in the Netherlands, Huisman is a well-known veteran of the surfwear industry. A former managing director of Mistral International, he successfully dealt with the Mistral apparel license in Benelux for several years. Huisman went on to head up Gaastra, the Dutch nautical and lifestyle brand. He then briefly teamed up with Anton Holland to run Falcon, the Dutch outerwear brand, but the two parted ways in 2006. Last year his company, X-Wear, obtained a license for Mistral apparel, footwear and accessories for Europe, excluding Spain, Portugal, Italy and Turkey.
As part of the new transaction, X-Wear’s partial European apparel license is to be transferred to another company, Mistral Division Europe. This unit is owned by Sameh Berrak, a leading partner in Huisman’s investment fund, who has several fashion stores and large-scale private-label activities in the Netherlands.
The new owners of the Mistral trademark have yet to work out a precise strategy for the brand but they see countless opportunities to explore. Huisman professes an unshakable belief in the credibility and recognition of the Mistral brand. Among many projects, the new team is on the look-out for strong partners in the footwear and accessories business, and it will be open to talks for a U.S. apparel license. The brand already has wide international distribution for its hardgoods, but its apparel ranges are only sold in Europe and in a few South American and Asian countries.
At the annual general shareholders meeting of Airesis earlier this month, it was reported that Boards & More’s continuing operations saw their sales increase by 6 percent for 2007, although the sale of F2 caused an overall sales decline of 16 percent for the board sports firm. Sales of continuing operations rose by another 4 percent in the opening quarter of this year.
Le Coq Sportif’s sales nearly doubled to €48 million in 2007 and Airesis reported that they continued to rise this year. Furthermore, since Le Coq Sportif bought back distribution rights and focused on Spain, Italy and France, its gross margin jumped from 36 percent in 2006 to 45 percent last year. However, the French company still ended with an operating loss of about €13 million, due to heavy investments in human resources and marketing.
