80 percent of French fashion house Sonia Rykiel, one of the last family controlled French fashion houses, was bought by Hong Kong investment firm Fung Brands. This partnership will boosting the brand’s global presence and will double Sonia Rykiel’s sales in the next five to six years. The fashion house’s sales stagnated in 2011 after chalking up 90 million euros ($119 million) in 2010. The Rykiel family will retain a 20 percent stake and the founder’s daughter, Nathalie Rykiel, will remain vice president of the board.
Fung Brands was started a year ago by the Fung family, the majority shareholder of Hong Kong‘s Li & Fung Group, and previously acquired majority stakes in French luxury shoemaker Robert Clergerie and Belgian leather goods maker Delvaux.
