Risque lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur has been sold to private equity firm 3i.

Agent Provocateur was founded in 1994 by Joseph Corré and Serena Rees. The couple are going through a divorce.

3i – which is paying £60m for a 80pc stake – plans to expand the business overseas and build its online operation. The retailer has recently launched Agent Provocateur perfume and a shoe range.

Mr Corré will stay on as creative director and retain a minority stake. Ms Rees, is to leave but will retain a stake.

Mr Corré said: “This new phase in the development of Agent Provocateur will give us the operational and financial platform to realise the company’s potential so that it takes its rightful position as the world’s most dynamic luxury lingerie brand.”

Diva, by Agent Provocateur

Stuart Rose, chairman of The Hamleys Group, has been appointed chairman.

The company’s early advertising campaign included the slogan “Less M&S, more S&M”.
- Source: Telegraph, Nov. 16, 2007

Risque Lingerie and Corsetry

Agent Provocateur is known for its risque lingerie and corsetry – along with such products as masks, massage oils and £35-a-pair nipple tassels – but has also diversified into perfumes and shoes. The label is now sold in 14 countries and has a long list of celebrity fans. Its advertising campaigns have been fronted by Kate Moss, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and burlesque artist Dita von Teese

Corré and Rees also designed a range for Marks & Spencer, which was marketed under the Salon Rose label.

3i said it intended to expand Agent Provocateur internationally. The private equity specialist is not entirely new to the fashion business – it also backs the Hobbs fashion chain.

3i has brought in Stuart Rose – not the M&S boss but a businessman of the same name, who is the chairman of Hamley’s and a former deputy chairman of Body Shop – to oversee the development of the Agent Provocateur brand as the group’s new chairman.
- Source: The Guardian, Nov. 15, 2007

No Job Losses

Agent Provocateur said the deal would not lead to any job losses.

Both Ms Rees and Mr Corre were awarded MBEs for their contribution to the fashion industry.

However, Mr Corre refused to accept his, because he said he found the then Prime Minister Tony Blair “morally corrupt”.

Mr Corre, 39, is the son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
- Source: BBC, Nov. 15, 2007

Viral Marketing

Agent Provocateur ran an early advertising campaign with the slogan “Less M&S, more S&M”, before it eventually co-operated with the company, agreeing to design a lingerie line.

In 2001, one of the first examples of “viral marketing” saw Kylie Minogue on a bucking bronco wearing Agent Provocateur underwear. The advertisement was given only a short release in cinemas but it proceeded to be passed round on the internet.

Kylie Agent Provocateur Video.

The last published accounts for Agent Provocateur show the business made a pre-tax loss of £207,831 for the year to March 2006 on turnover of £8.9m.

Mr Corré, who warned that he did not worry about financial detail, said he thought the following year had seen the company make a “profit of about £2m” and “£15m or £20m turnover”.
- Source: Financial Times, Nov. 15, 2007