The insolvent German fashion brand Closed has been saved for the time being. On Thursday, the company announced the successful end of the investor search that started almost two months ago.
The new owners of Closed are therefore the Böck family of entrepreneurs and the experienced fashion manager Dieter Holzer. The clothing provider Marc O’Polo SE belongs to the Böck family. The company has been managed by Maximilian Böck since 2021. He is the son of Werner Böck, who had acquired a majority stake in the originally Swedish company in 1997 and moved the headquarters to the Upper Bavarian Stephanskirchen.
Dieter Holzer was Maximilian Böck’s predecessor as CEO of Marc O’Polo and is now a member of the company’s supervisory board. In the course of his career, he had also managed the clothing company Tom Tailor.
On Monday, they want to explain why the new owners prevailed in the bidder competition for closed and what they are now planning with the brand together with the insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus as part of a press conference. However, it has already been announced in advance that Closed should remain in Hamburg.
Closed had filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of August
Closed GmbH had filed for bankruptcy on August 5. The step was “necessary because of an excessive debt and the associated financing costs,” it said at the time. However, the operational business is “fundamentally profitable”.
Following the bankruptcy, an investor process was initiated, which, reportedly, quickly led to “promising discussions” with prospective pricing for the premium brand founded in 1978. This procedure has now been brought to a successful end.
According to the insolvency administrator, the company’s annual turnover was recently amounted to around 120 million euros. At the time of the bankruptcy, Closed had 27 own stores, nine shops led by franchise partners and six outlets.