Wave your sandals:Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert,second from right,rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell,prior to the shoemaker’s trading debut.Credit:AP
Still,it was a significant payoff for the German cobbler heirs’ bet to hand over majority control of the historic shoemaker to private equity firm L Catterton in 2021. Christian has notched a return of more than 100 per cent on the minority stake he retained. Alex is no longer listed as a shareholder.
Together,they collected more than €3 billion ($5 billion) from the 2021 transaction,which set the shoemaker on the path to public markets. In the two years before the deal,the brothers were receiving about €100 million a year in dividends,filings show.
Representatives for Birkenstock and L Catterton didn’t respond to requests for comment. The buyout firm and its affiliates continue to own about 83 per cent of the stock after the float and control the company,according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange wear Birkenstock sandals during the company’s IPO.Credit:AP
Family tradition
The Birkenstock dynasty started nearly 250 years ago with Johannes and Johann Adam,shoemakers in Langen-Bergheim,a small village around 40 kilometres northeast of Frankfurt. Johannes’ descendants continued the family tradition,transforming their footwear into its recognisable modern form when Karl Birkenstock introduced the first model of the company’s famed sandal in 1963.