FB Roundup: Nat Rothschild, Amancio Ortega, Rihanna
Nat Rothschild’s Volex secures £135 million Turkish firm takeover
Nat Rothschild, the British-born financier and heir apparent to the title of Baron Rothschild, has unveiled a £55 million acquisition – his biggest to date – through his UK-listed manufacturer Volex.
According to Sky News, the youngest child and only son of Jacob and Serena Rothschild, has shepherded a £137 million deal to buy Murat Ticaret, a Turkish manufacturer of complex wire harnesses, which will be partly funded by a share sale seeking to raise around £55 million.
The deal marks a major step forward for Volex, which has seen a large spike in valuation since Rothschild came on board as non-executive director in 2015 before latterly assuming the role of chairman.
Murat Ticaret, which is headquartered in Turkey, serves major names in the agricultural and construction machinery market, which customers such as JCB, Bobcat and John Deere.
Sky News reports that “A person familiar with Volex said it would be the company’s 11th acquisition since 2019, describing the Turkish deal as ‘transformational’ by increasing its scale significantly and giving it access to a new market beyond the electric vehicles, consumer electricals, medical and complex industrials sectors.”
The Murat Ticaret is the latest step in Volex’s five-year plan, which, announced by Rothschild last year, aims to deliver £939 million in revenue by the end of its 2027 financial year.
Overseen by Rothschild (who is the former chairman of pan-European retailer Vivartea), Volex now employs 8,000 people in 22 countries, and is among the largest companies by market value on London’s junior AIM stock market.
Amancio Ortega moves into logistics real estate with €105 million purchase
The Spanish billionaire founder of Inditex (the global fashion retailer which counts Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, and others amongst its brands) has furthered his push into real estate with the purchase of a 103,000 square metre warehouse in the Netherlands.
After recently snapping up the former home of British Broadcasting Corporation in London for $105 million, The Opus luxury apartment building in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock for €100 million and 19 Dutch apartment building in New York’s Financial District for $500 million, Ortega’s family office, Pontegadea Inversiones has bought the warehouse in the southeastern city of Venlo.
According to real estate website React News and a spokesperson for Pontegadea Inversiones, the acquisition marks “Ortega’s first foray into the European logistics sector after spending more than $1 billion on distribution centres across the United States last year.”
The 87-year-old billionaire has overseen an expansion of his real estate portfolio in recent years with multiple residential and office buildings in the UK, the US and Canada, as Pontegadea, which manages the dividends from Ortega’s 59 per cent stake in clothing chain giant Inditex, is believed to be assertively hunting for new investments due to Spanish tax stipulations.
Ortega, who is Spain’s wealthiest person and the 14th-richest person in the world with a $80.9 billion fortune (according to Forbes), has also recently been diversifying into infrastructure with a stake in an undersea telecoms cable company, electricity and gas networks in Spain and Portugal, and a renewable energy project with global power firm Repsol.
Rihanna resigns as CEO of Savage X Fenty lingerie brand
Barbadian singer, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman Rihanna has resigned as CEO of the clothing brand that made her the US’ youngest self-made female billionaire with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Beginning as an online retailer in 2018, Savage X Fenty launched into pop-up and permanent shops selling lingerie, sleepwear and loungewear following investment from the likes of Bernard Arnault’s French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
“It has been beautiful to see our vision for Savage X Fenty impact the industry at such an incredible magnitude over the past five years,” Rihanna said to Vogue Business of the brand that had a $1 billion valuation in February, 2021.
“This is just the beginning for us, and we’re going to continue to expand in ways that always connect with the consumer.”
The artist and businesswoman, whose full names is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, will step down as chief executive officer but remain in the company as executive chair. Hilarie Super, the former CEO of Anthropologie Group, has become the new Savage X Fenty CEO.
“I’m so grateful and excited to welcome Hillary Super — she is a strong leader and is focused on taking the business to an even higher level,” Rihanna said.
“I’m thrilled to join the Savage X Fenty family,” said Super. “The brand is a major powerhouse in the lingerie and apparel industry, and its unwavering commitment to celebrating inclusivity and fearlessness is inspiring.”
