A-wear sold to managers in €100m deal

FEMALE fashion retailer A-wear has been bought by its managers from Brown Thomas in a deal believed to be worth €100 million.

The buyout was backed by British private equity firm, Alchemy Partners and is subject to formal approval by the Competition Authority.

It was reported in the last few months that Brown Thomas owners, the Westin family, who were also the owners of A-wear, were putting the fashion stores up for sale for a price tag believed to be about €100m.

A-wear managing director Annmarie Flood said: “This is a really exciting time for the A-wear business. We as a team look forward to building on our strong history of success.”

“Expansion both at home and in the UK market represents the next phase of our growth and we look forward to implementing our plans.”

The company operates 28 stores — 25 outlets in the Republic of Ireland, two in Northern Ireland and one outlet operating in Selfridges, Birmingham.

Chairman of the Brown Thomas Group, Galen Weston said he was very proud of what has been achieved by the A-wear business over the last number of years.

He wishes the new owners of A-wear every success in the future and added that the retention of the current management team to drive the business forward is a testament to their impressive track record.

In recent years, A-wear, whose clothes are aimed at the lower end of the youth market, has faced tough competition from international competitors. It has also been hit by soaring retail rents.

According to research conducted last October by Consumer and Retail Research Solutions, A-wear is one of the top 10 visited shops in Dublin for Saturday shopping.

Alchemy is a private equity firm specialising in buy-outs, buy-ins and the provision of later stage development capital.

It is based in London and active in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Alchemy looks for equity investments from £25m to £160m.

Formed in January 1997, Alchemy has advised on over 100 deals which have completed with more than £1.6bn of equity invested to date.

Irish entrepreneur Pierce Casey is a director of Alchemy Venture Partners. He was previously a director of DCC and Apax Partners.