The Autorité de la concurrence clears the acquisition of Caroll by Beaumanoir

The Beaumanoir Group notified the Autorité de la concurrence of its plan to acquire all the Caroll shops located in France.

Parties to the transaction

The Beaumanoir Group owns clothes shops in France and abroad, operated under the Cache Cache, Bonobo, Bréal, La Halle[1] Morgan and Vib’s[2] brands.

The Caroll Group operates an international network of 441 points of sale under the Caroll women's ready-to-wear brand, 283 of which are located in France.

After careful examination, the Autorité considers that the transaction is not likely to affect competition

The transaction only causes overlapping activities in the mid-range women's ready-to-wear market. The Autorité therefore examined whether the planned transaction was likely to restrict competition in the local retail distribution market for women's clothes and shoes, in the catchment areas in which the parties' shops are simultaneously present.

The Autorité found that in each of these areas, consumers will continue to benefit from alternative offerings to the brands of the parties, which are equivalent in terms of price and commercial positioning. These competing brands, which include Armand Thierry Femme, Burton of London, Camaïeu, Kookaï, Naf Naf and Promod, will remain sufficient to ensure that the new entity is not tempted to increase the price of goods sold in its shops or to reduce quality.

The Autorité has thus cleared this transaction without conditions.

[1] The Autorité cleared the acquisition of the La Halle Group by the Beaumanoir Group on 24 March 2020 (decision 21-DCC-43).

^[2] The latter operates points of sale which sell the Bonobo, Bréal and Cache Cache brands.

> Full text of decision 21-DCC-166 of 29 September 2021  regarding the exclusive takeover of Caroll International company by Beaumanoir group