Alteri in talks to buy Kurt Geiger

Alteri is in talks for a possible purchase of booming premium shoes-to-accessories specialist Kurt Geiger, a report claimed at the weekend.

Sky News — which has a good track record with such stories — said it has learnt that Alteri Investors is “among a number of parties in discussions about a takeover” of the 61-year-old company. It was Sky that broke the news last year that current owner Cinven had appointed a bank to oversee the sale.

But it also said that the talks haven’t progressed very far at present and are still at an early stage. They’re not on an exclusive basis either so the suggestion there is that anything could happen before the company eventually changes hands. More than one party is believed to be interested in a purchase with the latest report saying that both buyout firms and luxury goods companies could be in the running.

The business is currently owned, as mentioned, by private equity firm Cinven, which has held it since 2015 and watched as it grew from a UK-focused, mainly-footwear operation into one that has found great success in the US (aided by plenty of A-list celebrity endorsement) and now sells more handbags than shoes.

When news first broke in autumn 2023 that the company was up for sale, a price tag of around £400 million was mentioned. Since then, the firm has reported stronger than ever results so it’s unclear at what level it might be priced today.

It’s also unclear what role CEO Neil Clifford might play in any buyout. He’s been at the helm for two decades and has been praised for the way he’s grown the business in recent years, as well as for the charitable endeavours that the company has been involved in.

It’s interesting that Alteri has emerged as a possible bidder because that group usually specialises in distressed businesses or those in need of a turnaround.

But with nobody involved commenting, we’ll just have to wait and see what the motivations, expectations and plans are.