Vente-Privée acquires Privalia and a stake in Eboutic

By

Bruno Joly

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 15, 2016

Vente-Privée, the French event sales specialist has snatched up its Spanish homologue Privalia, and also acquired a majority stake in Swiss company Eboutic. This double operation allows Vente-Privée to expand geographically.

Privalia was founded in 2006 and is active in Italy and especially in Brazil and Mexico, while Eboutic's business is in Switzerland. The operation follows in the wake of the acquisition in autumn 2015 of Belgian firm Vente-exclusive. This shows how local habits are a strong feature in event sales, both in terms of consumption behaviour and of the brands' inventory clearance practices.

Until a year ago, Vente-Privée was talking about organic growth only. But the fiasco in the USA and the slow growth in some European countries caused the group, led by Jacques-Antoine Granjon, to change strategy.

In 2015, Vente-Privée reportedly generated €2 billion in sales, with 30 million members in Europe.