Bollé Brands has confirmed its intention to sell the Cébé eyewear brand to D.MO/RACER, which have joined forces to make the acquisition.
D.MO’s executive team includes Sébastien Delsaux and Maxime Bos, who are former employees of Cébé. The new acquisition is supported by RACER’s historical finance partners, Upperside Capital Partners and 123 IM.
Originally founded in 1892, the Cébé sports eyewear brand joined the Bollé Brands Group in 2009. Since then, the brand has forged a number of partnerships with elite athletes, most recently Francois D’Haene, the record-breaking four-time winner of the men’s title at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Peter Smith, CEO of Bollé Brands Group and President of Bollé Safety said “This is a good transaction for Bollé Brands and D.MO/RACER.
“We are very proud of managing Cébé’s transformation over recent years and ensuring that it has come out of COVID with a broad innovation pipeline and solid opportunities for growth. We are equally proud to be passing this business onto Sebastien and his team in such good health, and we know that he will be the ideal guardian to guide Cébé to new heights.”
He continued, “The decision to sell is part of our strategy to focus Bollé Group on core brands for further global growth. Underpinned by our investment in product innovation and digitalisation, our global brands of Bollé, Serengeti, and Spy+ are all growing at double-digit rates. The group has strong ambitions for each brand with strategic launches in the coming weeks.”
Commenting on the proposed deal, Sébastien Delsaux, new Cébé General Manager, said “Since I first began working on Cébé in 2010, I have been its biggest fan. Its long heritage and history of excellence makes it one of the pioneers of our industry, and I am very proud to be guiding the brand on the next phase of its journey.
“We believe we have assembled the right team and strategy to help bring Cébé to the next level. It is, therefore, a great pleasure to be able to write the next chapters of Cébé with D.MO and RACER, with the desire to establish it more than ever in its industry by enhancing its heritage and thus giving it back certain independence.”
