Luxury Richemont sells YNAP to Mytheresa

The watch and jewelry group Richemont has found a buyer for its online fashion and accessories business after all. It is MYT Netherlands Parent B.V., in which Richemont will hold a third in exchange for Yoox Net-A-Porter.

MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. (Mytheresa) is a digital platform for the operation of luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta, Dolce&Gabbana, Gucci and Montcler. Originally founded as a boutique in Munich in 1987, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The luxury division of Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) is to be integrated into Mytheresa in the medium term, as Richemont and Mytheresa jointly announced on Monday. In future, Mytheresa will consist of the three brands Mytheresa, Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter. By using a common technology platform, the two companies hope to achieve operational advantages and greater efficiency.

However, the off-price divisions Yoox and The Outnet are to be spun off separately, while the white label division of YNAP will be discontinued.

Richemont will be represented on Mytheresa's Board of Directors

The 33 percent stake in Mytheresa also gives Richemont the right to appoint a member of Mytheresa's Board of Directors and to appoint an observer to the Board.

The sale of YNAP to Mytheresa includes cash from YNAP in the amount of 555 million euros. Richemont will also provide Mytheresa with a EUR 100 million revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025 and is subject to regulatory approvals, among other things. However, the approval of the shareholders of Richemont and Mytheresa is not required.

Richemont continues to assume that the value of the YNAP assets will have to be written down to around 1.3 billion euros. However, this value is subject to change until the closing of the transaction and depends on variables such as the USD/EUR exchange rate.

Richemont had wanted to sell YNAP for some time. However, at the end of 2023, Richemont had to withdraw from a contract for the planned sale of part of it to Farfetch, as the online luxury retailer Farfetch was taken over by the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang.

SDA