SMCP announces forced return of illegally transferred 15.5% stake

The 15.5% stake in SMCP (Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac) that had been improperly transferred to a trust in the British Virgin Islands by its Chinese shareholder, who defaulted in 2021, has now been returned to the Luxembourg holding company that held it, management said on Monday.

“The return of this stake clarifies the shareholding situation of SMCP, which remains focused on implementing its profitable growth strategy based on the desirability of its brands, its operational agility, and its efforts to control costs,” the French high-end, listed textile group said in a statement.

In 2017, SMCP’s majority shareholder at the time of its IPO was a Chinese conglomerate, Shandong Ruyi, via a Luxembourg-registered investment vehicle, European TopSoho (ETS).

However, the heavily indebted ETS, which held a 53% stake, defaulted and, in 2021, lost most of the capital to its creditors within the GLAS entity. GLAS thus recovered 29% of the capital, leaving 8% to ETS.

But European TopSoho had previously sold a stake of around 16% to Chenran Qiu, the daughter of Shandong Ruyi’s founder, held in the Dynamic Treasure Group trust in the British Virgin Islands. This stake was sold for one euro “even though (its) market value was in excess of 80 million euros at the time,” as Oddo analysts pointed out in a note in July 2024.

For several years, GLAS had been seeking to regain access to this part of the capital, and judging the sale procedure to be irregular, it took legal action and obtained a favourable ruling from the British courts (DTC being a company incorporated under British law) in 2024, ordering the repatriation of the ETS shares to Luxembourg.

However, a source close to the case told AFP that the repatriated shares were held in a bank account in Singapore, which led to the involvement of the Asian city-state’s judiciary.

SMCP announced on Monday that “following the decision of the Singapore High Court on July 4, 2025, the 15.5% stake in SMCP that had been sold in 2021 to Dynamic Treasure Group was returned to European Topsoho on August 11, 2025,” paving the way for a capital clarification of the group.