The insolvent online retailer Surf4shoes has found a new owner. The investment company Commertunity AG, which previously traded as Spac Three AG, will acquire the business operations and assets of Surf4shoes GmbH via its subsidiary S4S Commerce GmbH on March 1st. The purchase price is “in the upper single-digit million range,” the company announced on Friday.
Surf4shoes filed for bankruptcy last September and bankruptcy proceedings were opened on December 1st. The experienced restructuring expert Michael Pluta acted as the insolvency administrator.
Following a “structured investor process” led by the management consultancy Enomyc, a promising solution was finally found: “The purchase agreement signed last week ensures the full maintenance of supplier relationships and market presence,” Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH announced. In addition, the approximately 20 employees would be taken over by Surf4shoes. According to insolvency administrator Pluta, the creditors’ meeting has already approved the transaction. “We expect a very high ratio for the creditors that we will achieve with the sale,” he explained.
Bastian Huse and Philipp Fliegner, the managing directors of Commertunity, explained their motives for the takeover: “Surf4shoes is very well represented in online trading. The brand is very well known and the company even operates successfully in 20 European markets. The acquisition therefore perfectly complements our company and portfolio,” they are quoted in a statement from Pluta.
According to its own statements, the investment company will “take up operational business activities for the first time” with the takeover. Commertunity now has the goal of “providing an optimal business environment for e-commerce companies for a sustainable and successful development of their core business, for example through services in classic cross-sectional functions as well as cross-brand sales & marketing solutions”. An expansion of the portfolio is “planned through additional acquisitions, primarily in the area of e-commerce, in the coming months”.