Belle International Holdings Ltd. history, profile and corporate video
Belle International Holdings Ltd. engages in the manufacturing, distribution and retailing of shoes and footwear products. The company also sells sportswear products. It operates through two segments: Footwear Business and Sportswear Business. The Footwear Business segment engages in product research and development, procurement, manufacturing, distribution and retailing of company-owned brands, which include Belle, Teenmix, Tata, Staccato, Senda, Basto, JipiJapa, Millie’s, Joy & Peace, 15MINS and Mirabell. The segment also engages in distribution of brands, which operates in two models: Brand Licensing and Retail Distribution. Its distribution brands include Bata, Clarks, Hush Puppies, Mephisto, BCBG, Merrell and Caterpillar. The Sportswear business segment engages in retail distribution of first-tier and second-tier sportswear brands. The first-tier sportswear brands include Nike and Adidas and second-tier sportswear brands PUMA, Converse and Mizuno. Belle International Holdings was founded by Yiu Tang in 1978 and is headquartered in Hong Kong.“
“Belle International Holdings History
Belle’s founder and chairman, Deng Yao, started Lai Wah Footwear Trading Ltd. in 1981 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. He started Belle International in 1991 as a shoe wholesale manufacturer, and the company only expanded into retail in 2004. It attracted private equity investors including Morgan Stanley and domestic Chinese private equity manager CDH. In May 2007 Belle raised $1.1 billion in an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The offering was priced at the top of the range, at 31 times estimated 2007 earnings, after retail investors ordered more than 500 times the shares initially earmarked for them. According to the IPO prospectus, an investment company linked to Groupe Arnault, parent of French luxury goods group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, purchased $30 million worth of shares as a strategic corporate investor. Belle raised an additional $775 million in two secondary listings in November 2007 and April 2008, which it used to buy several competing brands.
In 2007, Belle reported profits of $291 million (up 102% over 2006) on sales of $1.7 billion (up 89% over 2006). Its three women’s brands—-Staccato, Millie’s, and Joy&Peace—-account for about a 50% share of the $90–$150 shoe segment in China. Non-sports shoes account for 67% of sales, and licensing agreements with global brands make up the remainder. In 2006, Belle International won the contract to be the biggest distributor of Nike and Adidas in China. Belle International also operates other sports and leisure wear brands including Li Ning, Reebok, and Kappa (company).
In 2009, Belle sold its shares in Fila China to ANTA Sports, which Fila China was its subsidiary (owned 85%).”
*Information from Forbes.com and Belleintl.com
**Video published on YouTube by “twsirwind“