77 READY-TO-WEAR: A SECTOR UNDERGOING CHANGE Various mergers and acquisitions examined Faced with the far-reaching implications of the economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic, and the strong competition from online sales, many ready-to-wear retailers have been taken over. An update on the transactions involving retailers that are well known among French consumers. CAMAÏEU, PIMKIE, BURTON, BA&SH… In recent months, the Autorité examined a raft of takeovers and mergers in the retail distribution sector for women’s and men’s clothing, shoes and accessories. As such, it unconditionally cleared the takeover of the 511 Camaïeu stores by the The acquisition of the ready-to-wear clo- TRANSACTIONS THAT investment company Financière Immobilière thing chain JOTT by the company L Catter- ARE NOT LIKELY TO AFFECT Bordelaise (FIB). A transaction that fell in theton Europe (BA&SH) was cleared (Decision COMPETITION context of the opening of a judicial reorgani-21-DCC-09 of 19 January 2021). sation proceedings before the Lille Métropole The Autorité found that in each of the areas Commercial Court. The Autorité had exceptio-Finally, the Autorité cleared the acquisitionaffected by the transactions under exami- nally granted a derogation allowing the FIBof 366 La Halle stores by the Beaumanoir nation, consumers would continue to bene- group to proceed with the transaction wit- group, which operates the Cache Cache, fit from alternative offerings to the brands of hout waiting for the final decision (DecisionMorgan and Bonobo brands (Decision the new entity, which are equivalent in terms 20-DCC-172 of 8 December 2020). 21-DCC-43 of 24 March 2021). of price and commercial positioning. The number of competing stores remains suf- The groups Oosterdam (Pimkie, Grain de ficient to ensure that the new entity is not Malice) and Happychic (Jules, Brice, Bizz- tempted to increase the price of goods sold bee) were cleared to proceed with their mer- or to reduce the quality of services provided. ger (Decision 20-DCC-163 of 17 November 2020). The Autorité gave its unconditional green light to the takeover of the Burton brand (125 points of sale) by Thierry Le Guenic (Habi- tat) (Decision 20-DCC-158 of 17 November 2020). Discover our summary in video (in French) ACTIVATING TRANSFORMATION