Quietly announced over the weekend, Polish footwear and accessories retailer eobuwie’s majority shareholder CCC signed the papers with SoftBank Vision Fund 2 that saw a $130 million investment. One of the largest players in the Central and Eastern European marketplace, eobuwie operates in 17 markets offering over 170,000 products from 580+ brands.
The investment is structured as an uptake of convertible bonds. These bonds will then be converted to shares, “at the moment or before the Company's stock exchange debut, which is planned in the next 12-24 months.”
In a statement issued by CCC, they emphasise that the transaction with SoftBank, “will ensure the appropriate level of financing for the eobuwie.pl business plan, allowing for the acceleration of expansion and strengthening the company's foundations. At the same time, it is concluded by the previously communicated process of rebuilding and strengthening the ownership structure of eobuwie.pl, preceding the IPO of the company.”
If this sounds a bit like CCC isn’t doing too well, you’re on the right track. Poland’s largest brick-and-mortar shoe retailer has seen numbers dropping like flies since the start of the pandemic, and began shopping for a minority investor in eobuwie last year.
Earlier this year, the parent company sold a 20% stake in eobuwie to Cyfrowy Polsat and A&R Investments for approximately €220 million.
As part of the deal Karol Niewiadomski, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers will join the Supervisory Board of eobuwie.pl.
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