SMCP Could be Worth $2.4 Billion

PARIS, France — SMCP, the French group that owns Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot, could be worth more than €2 billion ($2.4 billion) when it lists on the Paris stock exchange, according to a source close to the company.

The Paris-based firm, majority owned by Chinese textile firm Shandong Ruyi, filed registration documents with the French authorities on Monday, the first step in IPO listing in the capital. The valuation could be 13 to 16 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, the source said. That would be on par with peers in the contemporary sector like Ted Baker, which has an enterprise value of 13.5 times EBITDA. SMCP said earnings on that basis rose 20 percent to €130 million last year.

KKR, the private equity firm, holds less than 10 percent of the business after agreeing a majority sale to Shandong Ruyi last year. At the time, it also considered an IPO. Shandong Ruyi chairman Yafu Qiu said the business plans to "maintain its position of controlling shareholders in SMCP, with around 51 percent stake." The founders, sisters Evelyn Chetrite and Judith Milgrom, also hold about 10 percent.

Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot are part of a wave of French contemporary brands offering a French aesthetic at an affordable price point through own-brand stores in premium locations globally.

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