The Austrian ARQUES Austria Invest AG with headquarters in Vienna, a subsidiary of the Starnberg-based equity investment company, ARQUES Industries AG, acquires the majority in the Austrian textile trade chain, Schöps. The transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant cartel authorities.
Schöps is one of the largest and best known traditional textile trade chains in Austria and has a country-wide branch network. Schöps is represented in all Austrian federal states with a total of 120 branches of which 30 are located in Vienna. The product range of the traditional company founded in 1954 consists of ladies’ wear for the fashion conscious woman from 20 upward as well as for young girls and children. Lingerie, accessories as well as swimwear round off the range.
Richard Schöps & Co AG generated revenues of around EUR 70 million with approximately 800 employees. The previous owner, Private Holdings of Investments Luxembourg S.A., will maintain shareholder in the textile chain. ARQUES subsidiary manager, Dr. Wolfgang Neubert, will be appointed to the executive board as CEO and the Italian retail expert, Cristina Romagnoli, who has already been working for Schöps in a consulting capacity for several months.
After studying communications engineering in Vienna, Dr. Neubert worked at McKinsey where he managed the Austrian office as managing partner. ARQUES Austria Invest AG with headquarters in Vienna was founded in autumn 2006 within the context of the internationalisation of the ARQUES business model; ARQUES manager, Franz Maurer, manages the company locally.
After Golf House and Fritz Berger, Schöps is already the third retail trade subsidiary. Furthermore, through Fritz Berger, ARQUES is an exclusive Jack Wolfskin retail partner in Germany. The acquisition of the textile trade chain by ARQUES Austria is a further important step in the internationalisation of the ARQUES business model. As recently as the beginning of February, the Spanish ARQUES subsidiary, ARQUES Iberia, Madrid, took over the antioxidant activities of Degussa in Spain and England.
Already in summer 2006, ARQUES Swiss was responsible for the takeover of the large printing company, Farbendruck Weber AG. Including the recent transaction, ARQUES has already acquired companies with a revenues volume of more than EUR 180 million in the current financial year 2007. The annualised annual revenues thereby increase to approximately EUR 1.3 billion.
ARQUES Austria Invest AG took legal advice regarding the transaction from the commercial lawyers, Dr. Andreas Mayr and Dr. Jurgen Kittel, of the renowned Viennese law firm DORDA BRUGGER JORDIS.
