Le Coq Sportif: Dan Mamane wins the match and chooses Alexandre Fauvet for DG

The new owner of the sports rooster is known. The brand, owned since 2005 by the Swiss group Airesis de Marc-Henri Beausire, becomes the property of the consortium led by the Franco-Swiss Dan Mamane.

The Paris Economic Activities Court decided in favor of the proposal brought by the entrepreneur who made a fortune in technological equipment and recently returned the activity of Swiss Conforama. At the end of a high-scale competition for a file of this size, the project took the ascendant on that formulated by the consortium led by the reversal company Neopar and supported by Iconix, Xavier Niel but also Teddy Riner and which also included Marc-Henri Beausire in his ranks.

AFP, which quotes the judgment of the court, specifies that the project implies “new contributions at the level of the group up to 70 million euros” as well as “a social restructuring which would allow the maintenance of 201 posts by implementing between 89 and 94 posts of posts, including 81 to 86 CDI after creation of 14 new posts”.

The sports brand, founded in 1882 by the Camuset family and which had a workshops in the dawn, was the equipment supplier of the Olympic and Paralympic French team during the 2024 Paris Olympics and will also dress French athletes for the next Winter Olympics. Faced with significant financial difficulties, despite several loans guaranteed by the State in recent years, the company which had achieved a turnover of 82 million euros, up 30% on the first half of 2024 for a net loss of 18 million euros had been placed in receivership last November and had more than 300 employees in France at that time.

Major partners

To build the project chosen by the Paris court, Dan Mamane is of course not alone. It is supported by the investment fund Mirabaud Living heritage, which had taken in the past a minority participation in the sports rooster under the aegis of the former Minister of Economy Renaud Dutreil. The brand will be entrusted to Alexandre Fauvet, former leader of Lacoste who was recently the general manager and minority shareholder of the Alpine Premium Fusalp brand. In a press release, the consortium also specifies that the “project provides the support from the Japanese group Itochu, owner of the mark in Asia, as well as that of UDI Avshalom, a worldwide expert the Sneaker, former COO of Adidas, and who will take the post of Brand Strategic Advisor Global”.

A major hitch, but for what project? “”The plan validated by the court aims to reposition The Coq Sporty as an international reference brand in the sport and the High-end lifestyle “, it is specified. With the ambition to reach a turnover of 300 million euros in 2030 (against 122 in 2023) and” a return to sustained profitability “. For this, the brand should record” an evolution of the offer, with a segmentation redesigned around four universes: Sportyle, sport Heritage, lifestyle chic and technical performance. The Distribution will be rebalanced between selective network, e-commerce, marketplaces and affiliated stores. Internationally, ambition is clear: triple the share of sales outside France by 2027 “.

“After difficult years, the Coq Sporty must find his influence and his desirability, it is the sense of our project. It is based on strong convictions and the assets of this emblematic brand: a French brand, a unique textile know-how, a precious territorial anchoring and an immense reconquest potential, explains Dan Mamane in the consortium press release. We will give back to Coq Sporty The ways to innovate, to seduce the world markets again and to assert oneself as a reference of style and sport to the française”.

As rumors suggested in recent weeks the French industrial aspect seems to have weighed. The buyer thus explains that the historic workshops of Romilly-sur-Seine, a few kilometers from Troyes, will have an important role in the strategy which intends to bring together creative, industrial and strategic functions, while the company had important offices in the heart of Paris. The Romilly-sur-Seine site will become a real pothe of reference for textile innovation, the high -end production and circular economy. It will also host a research and development center, making it possible to integrate the most advanced technologies in terms of design, materials and responsible production “.

All the expertise of the new CEO, Alexandre Fauvet, will be necessary to deploy this approach on the product, while the brand has been faced with delicate seasons at the commercial level towards French and international multi -brand customers.