Referred to as the ugly, but now trending phenomenon is worth NOK 64 billion

Birkenstock sandals have been referred to as unsightly and called “Jesus sandals”. Commercially, German barges have a much higher reputation.

An initial public offering of $6 billion, equivalent to NOK 64 billion, is now being considered, according to Bloomberg.

It’s a good price for a sandal empire, but according to Bloomberg columnist Andrea Felstead, there are several signs today’s owners are about to take their shoes off.

The first is that the comfy, lightweight shoe trend may have passed its peak. The second is that consumers, especially in Asia, have curbed this type of consumption, especially after reopening.

Foot lengths in front of Crocs

Its EBITDA valuation will be 12 times higher than that of competitors Crocs Inc. and Dr. Martens PLC. It’s only valued at 7.7 and 6 times operating EBITDA.

Among the dominant owners of Birkenstock is private equity fund L Catterton, which is backed by luxury group LVMH. When they acquired it two years ago, it was based on a $4.9 billion valuation.

Private equity firms typically make investments on a three- to five-year horizon, so exploring options after two years seems premature, Felsted notes.

You’d think the current owner would want to reduce footwear exposure after riding the trend wave.

Especially during the home office period, casual shoes sailed as a winner. In the first half of the year, revenue was NOK 7.5 billion.

14,000 for cork sandals

The Birkenstock family is still involved in the 250-year-old company. Brothers Christian and Alex Birkenstock could get NOK 20 billion worth of shares if the IPO is successful.

Cork-soled shoes were developed by Karl Birkenstock in 1963 and introduced as training sandals to promote a natural gait.

Collaboration with several designers resulted in some special models selling for NOK 14,000.(conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We’d like you to share our statuses using links that lead directly to our pages. Reproduction or other use of all or part of the Content may be made only with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms see here.