MILAN (Reuters) – Blue Pool, a Hong Kong-based investment firm backed by Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, has bought a 12% stake in Italian luxury sneaker maker Golden Goose, the Venice-based brand said on Tuesday.
The investment comes after the maker of $600 a pair sneakers abruptly pulled plans for a stock market listing last year.
“Blue Pool’s deep expertise in the sports, entertainment and consumer industries, coupled with its deep knowledge of the Asia Pacific market, will help the group further expand its reach,” Golden Goose said in a statement.
No financial details were disclosed.
Blue Pool manages the assets of Tsai, who chair the Chinese online retailer and co-founded it with Jack Ma, as well as those of a group of families.
Oliver Weisberg, CEO of Blue Pool Capital, will join Golden Goose’s board.
Private equity firm Permira will retain a majority stake in the company, the company said.
In June Golden Goose unexpectedly halted a proposed initial public offering (IPO) on the Milan bourse, citing market volatility caused by political uncertainty in Europe.
In November Golden Goose’s CEO Silvio Campara said the company was still committed to an IPO but would wait for the right market conditions to restart the process.
Golden Goose said that the transaction with Blue Pool was negotiated and agreed shortly after last year’s decision to postpone the IPO and was completed on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Cristina Carlevaro; Editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Valentina Za)
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