It has been known since last week that the Böck family and Dieter Holzer won the bidding war for the ailing Hamburg company Closed. On Monday, the new owners announced the appointment of Holzer as the new CEO and initial plans.
The takeover has already received positive feedback online: “Great news,” wrote many, others see a good constellation in the future owners and Closed. The Böck family is no stranger to the German fashion landscape. They are the family that owns the clothing company Marc O’Polo SE, an upscale brand from the casualwear segment with roots in the middle class.
Closed is a “private investment” by the Böck family office, said Maximilian Böck, CEO of Marc O’Polo, in a press conference on Monday. Closed and Marc O’Polo would therefore continue to be managed as independent companies in the future.
The Böck family holds 74.9 percent and Dieter Holzer 25.1 percent in the newly founded Closed NewCo GmbH, which, like the previous company, is also based in Hamburg.
The Böck family
The fashion brand Marc O’Polo, founded in Sweden in 1967, was imported to Germany by Werner Böck from 1968 onwards. The brand will grow in the coming years thanks to its success with casual fashion such as sweatshirts and hoodies. From 1997, Böck became the majority shareholder of the brand and the company headquarters was moved from Stockholm to Stephanskirchen. Design, production, marketing and sales are now controlled from Germany.
In the coming years, the company will drive forward its internationalization with stores in Poland and China. Maximilian Böck, the son of the majority owner, will take over the CEO position at Marc O’Polo in 2021. In the following year, sales reached more than half a billion euros for the first time, according to the company website.
Böck headed Marc O’Polo’s stationary retail business as Director Retail until he took over the CEO position. Before he joined the family business operationally, Böck had been a member of the supervisory board since 2013. After studying business administration in Cologne and Passau, he completed a trainee program at the fashion chain Peek & Cloppenburg and most recently worked there as a buyer for men’s items.
In addition to Maximilian Böck, who will chair Closed’s advisory board, Werner Böck’s youngest son Benjamin Böck is also active at Marc O’Polo. He currently leads the men’s line in the Marc O’Polo Denim boys division.
Dieter Holzer
Dieter Holzer led the fashion company Marc O’Polo as managing director from 2017 to 2021. From 2020, he spent a year preparing Maximilian Böck as co-CEO to take over the position of managing director, after which he remained associated with the company as chairman of the supervisory board. He also holds supervisory board positions at the Hauber Group and Mustang Jeans and now his new position as Closed CEO.
Holzer looks back on a long career in the German fashion industry. Before joining Marc O’Polo, he led the Tom Tailor Group as CEO for more than ten years. Under his leadership, the Hamburg clothing company went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March 2010. Before that, according to the career network Linkedin, he worked as Wholesale Manager Europe at Esprit.