PARIS — There’s a reason Courrèges has been loosening the purse strings lately: Artémis SA, French billionaire François Pinault’s family holding company, is said to have taken a minority stake in the Space Age label, WWD has learned.
Courrèges recently staged its first catwalk show in 13 years, marking the debut of Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant as artistic directors of women’s wear.
Patricia Barbizet, chief executive officer of Artémis, was spotted at the show held in the basement of the Opéra Bastille in Paris, but a spokeswoman for Courrèges said at the time that she was there as a longtime friend of co-owner Jacques Bungert.
Bungert and Frédéric Torloting, the former Young & Rubicam executives who bought Courrèges from founders André and Coqueline Courrèges in 2011, said last year they were in talks to sell a minority stake in the company. They have made no further comment on the subject since.
One market source said Artémis acquired a stake believed to be in the region of 30 percent some time ago, without establishing a precise time frame. However, another source said the acquisition still faced some final regulatory hurdles.
Officials at Artémis and Courrèges declined to comment.
Bungert and Torloting initially set about relaunching Courrèges through collaborations with companies including Estée Lauder, Eastpak, Evian, Alain Mikli and La Redoute. With the appointment of Meyer and Vaillant, whose first show was critically well received, they hope to expand the brand’s retail network.