Belle Shoes Wants to List Overseas to Guarantee "Overlord" Throne

Investment guru Rogers made a bold prediction in China in 2004 that women's consumer goods will become one of the major themes for future investment in the Chinese market.

Recently, Belle Holdings, China’s leading women’s shoe retailer, intends to raise 800 million U.S. dollars through its initial public offering (IPO), and the proceeds will be used to expand business outlets in the Mainland.

  Fundraising doubled in size

It is reported that the company is committed to the production and sales of first-rate women's shoes products, is currently undergoing restructuring, plans to be listed in Hong Kong in the first half of next year. Hu Bing, deputy general manager of Belle Footwear (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the media that it was not disclosed.

Sources said that due to Belle's consideration of injecting more assets into listed companies, this extended the time for reorganization. It is worth noting that 800 million U.S. dollars were raised more than 300 million U.S. dollars. For this change, a source said that outsiders have been expecting Belle to list the retail business, but at present the company has decided to include the footwear production department in the IPO, which will double its potential fundraising size. The good sales performance in the mainland market has put Belle's listed impulse on the agenda. “Our sales of Belle's shoes for one month here are basically more than 150,000 yuan, and sales in leather shoe brands are relatively good.” A few days ago, the sales staff of Shenzhen Huaqiang (Marketing Forum) North 100 counters told reporters.

Listed to protect the "overlord" throne

Belle mentioned that many consumers believe that it is a native brand in Mainland China. In fact, Belle Footwear was first founded in the 1970s by Mirabell International (1179.HK) in Hong Kong, China. In the 1990s, it was a famous Hong Kong shoe designer. Mr. Deng Yao introduced Belle shoes to the Mainland and repositioned and targeted the mainland market, which has been extremely successful. Now Belle Footwear is mainly engaged in high-end women's dress shoes chain operations in mainland China. At the same time, it is also the main agent of Nike, Levi's and American urban leisure apparel brand Dockers.

At present, Belle operates and owns more than 2,500 shops in mainland China and Hong Kong, covering more than 80 large and medium-sized cities in Mainland China, and has a total of more than 860 stores in various brands. Among them, 1,000 stores are known under the flagship brand “Belle” while others are managed under the names of Teenmix, Staccato, and Joy & Peace. In early November of this year, Belle just signed an agreement with the world's oldest shoe company, BATA. In the next 10 years, BATA will be the sole agent of sales of BATA shoes in the Mainland.

People in the industry believe that although Belle is currently the leader in the Chinese women's footwear industry, the competition has become more intense in the past two years. The Qianbaidu Group, which followed, has taken the lead in listing. If no action is taken, Belle is likely to be ranked second. The third group caught up.

When a company IPO, its follow-up development strategy is undoubtedly more attention, "800 million fundraising is not a small number, once Belle successful IPO, whether in the future development of the Chinese market is the key." An industry Person analysis.

It is understood that Belle has selected Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse as listed underwriters, of which Morgan Stanley holds about 6% stake in Belle. However, both declined to comment.

Analysts believe that the current sales market in China is very good, so many retail companies are developing very rapidly and need funds to support follow-up plans to expand the market. In the coming years, many of the listed new shares will be retail enterprises. People in the banking industry believe that the next wave of listed Chinese concept stocks will mainly focus on the private sector owned by the entrepreneurs in the consumer sector.