Planet Sports, the big German boardsports retailer, has moved into the orbit of Carlyle Group, a U.S.-based private equity investor has bought it along with other members of the so-called Primondo Specialty Group, the branch of mail-order retailers within the bankrupt Arcandor group, former owner of Karstadt and Quelle and other operations as well.
Technically speaking, Carlyle is getting Planet Sports and five other retail operations through a buy-out fund called Carlyle European Partners III (CEP III), which has assets worth some €5.4 billion. The sale of Planet Sports is part of a package deal comprising other specialty retailers including the fashion dealers Walz, Élégance and Bon’A’Parte, as well as Mirabeau (furniture) and a 50 percent stake in the French Vertbaudet (children’s apparel). The other half of the latter continues to be held by the Redcats group controlled by PPR Group, parent company of Puma.
Figures on the transaction have not been given. Neither have data on the companies’ sales volume. It is estimated that the total anuual turnover of these assets is around half a billion euros. In its last-ever financial report for the fourth quarter of 2008, Arcandor pointed out that the Primondo Specialty Group was performing well, with significant growth at Walz, Mirabeau, Verbaudet and Planet Sports.
Is the file on the ill-fated Arcandor group closed at last? Not quite. After the sale of Karstadt to Nicolas Berggruen and his partners, the liquidation of Quelle and the pull-out from Neckermann (mail-order) and HSE24 (TV shopping), little is left of the retail empire formerly known as KarstadtQuelle. Three other companies belonging to Primondo Specialty that were not acquired by Carlyle and that have not yet been sold are the fashion mail-order retailers Madeleine, Peter Hahn and Hess Natur.
Planet Sports is traditionally not willing to give sales figures, but this retailer is recognized as the leader in the German boardsports market – which is not necessarily skyrocketing. Carlyle even says that Planet Sports is the leading retailer in Europe in this segment, with more than 1 million customers. Besides its strong mail-order business, it operates six brick-and-mortar stores in Munich, Hamburg and the Bavarian town of Weilheim. Two years ago, the founders and then owners, who still head up the operating business, sold Planet Sports to Primondo shortly before the Arcandor empire crumbled.
Planet Sports expects no major changes in how it is governed under the new helm. Company sources say that the chain was basically independent under Primondo’s rule in terms of staff, operations and marketing, and should remain so.
Carlyle manages assets around the world worth some $98 billion in annual sales. It is active in aerospace, real estate, energy, retail and consumer goods as well as telecommunications, health care and many other sectors.
