OpCapita buys Merkal, Vivarte’s Spanish footwear chain

The investment fund OpCapita Consumer Opportunities Fund II LP has confirmed the purchase of the Spanish footwear firm Merkal.

The British fund has acquired Merkal from the French distribution conglomerate Vivarte SAS. As pointed out by EFE, the operation, whose conditions have not been made public, is subject to final approval by the Spanish competition authorities.

Once the transaction is formalized, Merkal will invest in the existing network of points of sale, accelerate the opening of new stores, review its product offerings and continue to develop online sales.

OpCapite to retain Merkal's leadership after acquisition is finalised

OpCapita has indicated that it intends to promote the future growth and development of Merkal in close collaboration with the current management team to which they endorse numerous years of service. In this new stage, Merkal will invest in its network of existing points of sale, review and optimize its product offer, accelerate the opening of new stores and continue to develop its current 'online' capabilities.

Commenting on the acquisition of Merkal, OpCapita CEO Joshua Spoerri stressed that "We are delighted to work with Jon Dorronsoro and his team, who over the past 18 years have successfully led Merkal to its current position, to help them continue to expand the business and strengthen their market position."

For his part, the CEO of Merkal, Jon Dorronsoro, has described the partnership as "exciting". "The vast knowledge of OpCapita on the Spanish retail sector makes it the ideal partner to help us achieve our goals and to strengthen Merkal's position in our footwear market segment," he underlined.

Merkal is based in San Sebastian and Barcelona and offers a comprehensive range of quality footwear at affordable prices through a network of stores of 215 stores throughout Spain.

During the last 11 years, OpCapita has invested more than 500 million euros in companies in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, with a special preference for the consumer goods sector in general and fashion in particular (its portfolio of fashion brands include NKD, a discount clothing company with more than 1,800 stores in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy and the German company AppelrathCüpper.)

Image:Web Merkal, Spain