akala sold loss-making boutique operator on Pařížská Street

Billionaire Zdeněk Bakala sold the loss-making company Luxury Brand Management (LBM), which operates boutiques in Pařížská Street in the center of Prague, to entrepreneur Martin Hes. The new owner of LBM is Hes's company S.E.H. Private Equity. With reference to his information, the Seznam Zprávy server stated this today, he did not state the price of the transaction. The companies did not comment on the trade.

"The press release is still being prepared," he told the Hes server without further details. "No comment," Sarka's spokeswoman Sarka Samkova responded to the server's questions. LBM has temporarily benefited from extraordinary creditor protection this year due to the effects of coronavirus closures. In 2020, it reported a loss of more than CZK 125 million, the server writes.

However, LBM had suffered before the pandemic. According to the latest published annual report, it has more than CZK 462 million in the accumulated loss account of previous years. Bakala acquired boutiques in Paris in 2012 from lobbyist Ivo Rittig. LBM originally operated 25 boutiques at the most prestigious business address in the center of Prague. Last year, their number dropped below ten.

When leaving the coronavirus moratorium this year, LBM stated that it counts on only five establishments. Among them are two stores offering goods from several luxury brands, as well as boutiques from Dsquared2, Valentino and Bottega Veneta. This year, LBM sold the store in Pařížská and the tailor's salon in Široká Street of the Ermenegildo Zegna brand to the Czech representation of the Italian company of the same name, according to information in the Commercial Register.

According to the Seznam Zprávy server, the business of the investor Martin Hes is centered around the marketing company N&F Marketing Group. Hes is also one of the creditors of the bankrupt fashion businessman Michal Mička. At the same time, the largest creditor is the bankrupt company Central Tenders focused on door-to-door energy sales, the E15.cz server pointed out at the end of August. Until last autumn, Hes was on the company's supervisory board.

Source: CTK