OVS Expands Portfolio with $15 Million Kasanova Acquisition

OVS is still shopping. The Italian retail group has launched a binding offer to take over homewear company Kasanova for €15 million. The deal adds to a list of several acquisitions made recently by OVS, which has taken over Goldenpoint, les Copains and Stefanel. With Kasanova, OVS will strengthen its homewear division, a segment in which it operates the Croff brand through its Upim chain of stores.

If successful, the transaction will be articulated through a capital increase that will strengthen Kasanova’s financial structure. The entry of OVS is conditional on the acceptance of a write-off by the creditors of the homewear company, which is in financial difficulties with liabilities of €40 million. The purchase is expected to close before the end of the year.

The company led by Stefano Beraldo would allow to save Kasanova, which has activated a restructuring plan that involves closing unprofitable stores and reducing operating costs. The group currently has a network of 700 stores: 220 directly managed stores, 280 franchises and 200 corners in specialized DIY stores.

The transaction is conditional on a write-off from the group’s creditors, which has liabilities of €40 million 

OVS said in a statement that these stores “are in top quality locations, in the main shopping centers and central areas of the main Italian cities”. The Italian retail giant also noted that Kasanova “achieves high sales per square meter and has a good commercial margin”.

Kasanova achieved a turnover of 362 million euros in 2024 and, for the current financial year, it planned to close with a turnover of just under 300 million euros, with a “slightly positive” gross operating profit (ebitda). This network will be added to that of Croff, which has a presence in nearly 120 Upim stores and a network of 42 independent stores.

OVS closed the 2024 financial year with sales growth of 6.2%, to €1.6 billion, and in the first half of this year it grew by 4.1%, to €792.9 million. Excluding Goldenpoint, whose accounts have been consolidated in OVS since last July, OVS’s organic growth was 14%.