 LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, seems to be having an inspirational spring shopping time. Just one week after sealing the deal to acquire Italian jewelry house Bulgari, LVMH joins the
race for the celebrities’ shoemaker, Jimmy Choo.
As Sunday Times reported this weekend, the shoe brand, founded by Tamara Mellon, could be sold for as much as 500 million pounds ($804 million). The private equity company Towerbrook hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to sell Jimmy Choo, the paper also said.
 According to London City rumors, the founder of the Jimmy Choo fashion brand has hired bankers to advise him on buying back the company he set up. The Malaysian-born shoemaker who founded the eponymous brand with Tamara Mellon in 1996 has appointed Daniel Stewart to advise on his options in the firm.
The firm’s private equity owner Towerbrook Capital is in the process of reviewing its options for the business, which could include a sale. Last September, the firm appointed investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to complete the strategic review. The review, which is due this spring, has considered holding on to the company, a sale, or spinning it off in a stock market listing. However, it is understood that the review is likely to recommend a sale.
Choo, who started producing designer shoes from his Hackney workshop in 1986, could seek to work alongside private equity backers in order to repurchase the firm. He sold his 50 per cent stake in the firm in 2001, whilst Mellon retained her 15 per cent stake and leadership of the firm. Choo remains associated with the company as a consultant designer, offering bespoke footwear to celebrity clients.
As it is heavily sounding across the industry, Choo, helped by Stewart, may have to fight LVMH and Valentino in the process. The fashion house is reported to be attracting bids from Parisian group LVMH and Valentino, whose catwalk show last week was attended by Robert Bensoussan, ex-chief executive of Jimmy Choo.
Paris-based LVMH spokesman Olivier Labesse declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg by telephone today, while the group declined 3.5 percent to 106.15 euros, soon after the news jumped into the stock market.
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