CVC treads carefully with Almar buy

CVC Capital Partners, which took its first step into the protective footwear sector in 1998 with the acquisition of France’s Groupe Jallatte from Etex Group, in early September announced the buyout of Almar Group for an undisclosed sum.

Almar, based in Italy, is the number two player in the European safety footwear market. CVC is merging Almar with Jallatte, which is the European market leader in the upper-range safety footwear market. The combined group will have a turnover of approximately s180 million, with Jallatte and Almar contributing roughly half each, and enjoy a 25 per cent share of the European safety footwear market.

Both companies are active in France and Germany; Jallatte is also a strong player in Spain, while Almar has strong market positions in Italy and the UK. The merger will enable Almar and Jallatte to reinforce their international distribution and improve logistics and customer services. However, Almar and Jallatte will continue to manage their manufacturing and marketing operations independently to preserve individual brand identities and guarantee a presence for the group across all segments of the European protective footwear market.

The deal was led and structured by the Paris and Milan teams of CVC Capital Partners.