Another French footwear brand finds new owners
Following the acquisition by US group Titan Industries of French footwear group Clergerie, news has now emerged of another French brand, Heschung, emerging from administration.
This time, however, the successful bid for the troubled company has come from closer to home. In fact, one of the Alsace-based brand’s new owners is Pierre Heschung, grandson of the company’s founder.
A group called French Legacy put Heschung into administration in April. The same group did exactly the same with Clergerie.
In Heschung’s case, a court decision came in early July that the bid that Pierre Heschung had submitted with entrepreneur Philippe Catteau had been successful. It means the footwear company’s 65 employees will keep their jobs and its factory in Steinbourg, 50 kilometres north-west of Strasbourg, will remain in operation.
Pierre Heschung’s grandfather founded the company in 1934. It makes classic shoes such as Oxford and Derby brogues and loafers for men and women. Mr Heschung will have a 40% stake in the new ownership set-up.
For his part, Philippe Catteau, with investment partners PPL Finance, will have a 60% share. Mr Catteau is an investor and entrepreneur based in the north of France. His family sold its own-name logistics business to UK supermarket group Tesco in the 1990s.
