Luxury confectionery brand Pierre Marcolini acquired by Japan’s VM2 Holdings
Japanese-based VM2 Holdings, owned by MBK Partners, a South Korean investment fund active in northern Asia, has acquired a major shareholding in Belgian luxury confectionery business, Pierre Marcolini, reports Dominique Huret.
It replaces the British fund Neo investment partners, which had entered the capital of Marcolini in 2013 against a check of 15 million euros (for 47% of the capital). Neither the share taken by VM2 Holdings nor the amount of the transaction has been communicated.
Within a few weeks, the chocolate maker Pierre Marcolini bought a new 3,500 square metre building and has gone under the Asian flag. By the summer of 2024, Pierre Marcolini will reportedly move his workshop to the recently acquiredbuilding next to the existing workshop in which he had set up shop in 1999.
The arrival of VM2 Holdings should enable La Maison Pierre Marcolini to accelerate its growth, particularly in Japan, China and South Korea. VM2 Holdings, which has had a strong presence in Asia for many years, “will put its experience of the Asian market at the service of La Maison Pierre Marcolini’s ambitions”.
VM2 Holdings already operates Godiva, another famous Belgian luxury chocolate brand, in the markets of Japan, South Korea, Australia and its factory in Belgium. Marcolini has 42 shops in Belgium, France, the UK, Monaco, Japan, China and Dubai.