Blue Pool Acquires 12% Stake in Luxury Sneaker Brand Golden Goose

The Venice-based luxury sneaker company Golden Goose announced that Blue Pool, an investment group located in Hong Kong and supported by Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, has acquired a 12% share in the company. The investment follows the sudden cancellation of preparations for a stock market listing by the manufacturer of sneakers, which cost $600 each, last year.

"Blue Pool's deep expertise in the sports, entertainment and consumer industries, coupled with its deep knowledge of the Asia Pacific market, will help the group further expand its reach," Golden Goose said.

Blue Pool oversees a collection of families' assets in addition to those of Tsai, who chairs the Chinese online retailer and co-founded it with Jack Ma. The CEO of Blue Pool Capital, Oliver Weisberg, will become a board member of Golden Goose.

The company has announced that Permira, a private equity group, will continue to own the majority of its shares. Citing market volatility brought on by European political unpredictability, Golden Goose abruptly postponed a planned initial public offering (IPO) on the Milan stock exchange in June.

Silvio Campara, the CEO of Golden Goose, stated in November that the company was still committed to an IPO but would postpone it until the market conditions were favorable.

Following last year's decision to postpone the IPO, Golden Goose stated that the deal with Blue Pool was negotiated, agreed upon, and finalized.