Allen & Overy advises HR Group on acquisition of surf4shoes

Frank­furt am Main — Allen & Overy LLP has advi­sed Hamm Reno Group (HR Group), one of the largest distri­bu­tors in the tradi­tio­nal shoe retail and systems busi­ness in Germany and Europe, on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in the eCom­merce company surf4shoes GmbH. The tran­sac­tion has alre­ady been successfully comple­ted; the parties have agreed not to disc­lose the tran­sac­tion value.

The HR Group expects the coope­ra­tion with surf4shoes to gene­rate further signi­fi­cant growth in the online segment as well as synergy effects that will bene­fit both compa­nies in the rapidly growing eCom­merce market. In addi­tion to the inter­nal resour­ces of the HR Group, which surf4shoes will be able to draw on in the future, there are syner­gies in the areas of logi­stics, IT and purchasing.

surf4shoes GmbH, based in Bitz, Baden-Würt­­te­m­­berg, is a dyna­mi­cally growing company that has specia­li­zed in the online retail of brand-name shoes in the mid-price segment since its foun­ding in 2006. In the past fiscal year, the company gene­ra­ted sales of around 30 million euros in this segment.

The HR Group, with its 130 years of expe­ri­ence in shoe retail­ing, employs around 4,000 people and opera­tes in 20 count­ries. The Group opera­tes around 400 retail outlets world­wide and will be opera­ting over 2,000 outlets in its system busi­ness by the end of the finan­cial year. Sales gene­ra­ted at retail prices total more than 500 million euros. Follo­wing the sale of the company in 2016, the share­hol­ders of HR Group include the finan­cial inves­tor and majo­rity share­hol­der capi­ton AG, the Turkish stra­te­gic share­hol­der Flo (prior to the change of name Ziylan) with a mino­rity stake, the CEO Peter M. Wolf and the manage­ment team.

Advi­sor to Hamm Reno Group: Allen & Overy
The Allen & Overy team consis­ted of part­ners Dr. Markus Käpplin­ger, photo (Corporate/Private Equity, Frank­furt), Dr. Walter Uebel­hoer (Banking and Finance, Munich), Jürgen Schind­ler (Anti­trust, Brussels), Dr. Heike Weber (Tax, Frank­furt), Dr. Jens Matthes (IP, Düssel­dorf), Coun­sel Niko­lai Soko­lov (Corporate/Private Equity, Frank­furt), Senior Asso­cia­tes Boris Blunck and Dr. Sebas­tian Schulz (both Labor Law, Frank­furt), Miray Kavruk (IP, Düssel­dorf) as well as asso­cia­tes Dr. Jörg Weber (Banking and Finance Law, Munich), Milosz Cywin­ski and Benja­min Geisel (both Anti­trust Law, Brussels), Dr. Lisa Müller (Labor Law, Frank­furt) and Dr. Thomas Dieker (Tax Law, Frankfurt).

Allen & Overy is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with appro­xi­m­ately 5,400 employees, inclu­ding appro­xi­m­ately 550 part­ners, in 44 offices worldwide.