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MONTREAL, Canada — Less than three months after announcing plans to acquire the Camuto Group's footwear and accessories businesses, the Aldo Group revealed Thursday that the deal will not go forward. The privately held Canadian footwear company said in a statement that "after careful consideration and thoughtful discussion, both parties mutually decided not to pursue the transaction." The terms of the original deal were not disclosed at the time of the announcement in August.
Founder Aldo Bensadoun, who has retired but remains active in the Aldo business, added: "The Aldo Group continues to be focused on growth. Despite not moving forward with the acquisition, Camuto Group will become a key strategic partner for us. Our two organizations have complementary strengths, capabilities and reach, and we look forward to partnering in ways that will grow both businesses….We built some great relationships with the Camuto team throughout this process. After several months working closely together, there's no denying that we share similar cultures and values."
The planned acquisition, one of several recent moves towards scale and consolidation in the fashion industry (see Coach Inc's acquisition of Kate Spade and Michael Kors' acquisition of Jimmy Choo) would have given Aldo a much larger footwear network. The vertically integrated company, which owns multiple brands and operates a private and branded label business, operates over 2,000 stores in over 90 countries. Annual sales are estimated at about $1.5 billion. At the time of the now cancelled deal, chief executive (and the founder's son) David Bensadoun told the New York Times that the company had been looking to acquire another company in order to grow for 18 months.
The Camuto Group is owned and operated by the Camuto family, which inherited the footwear, accessories and apparel business after founder Vince Camuto passed away in 2015 and were looking to hand over the operations. In addition to owning the Vince Camuto brand, the group manufacture shoes for the likes of Tory Burch and the Jessica Simpson Collection and apparel for Lucky Brand Jeans.
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