MBO+ buys control of French luxury uniform maker Kami in founder handover
What's the deal? French private equity firm MBODealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →+, through its MBO Capital 5 fund, has taken a majority stake in KamiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a designer of uniforms for luxury brands. The buyout, announced in October 2026, completes the handover from founders Didier Willard and Alain Denis to the company's existing management team, which invested alongside MBO+. Terms were not disclosed.
What each side brings. Founded in 1991 and spun out of LVMH, Kami employs around 125 people at its Montbazon base, with a Paris design studio and subsidiaries in Romania and China. It designs and delivers uniforms worldwide for the boutique teams of luxury jewellery, watchmaking, and fashion houses, drawing on a network of more than 700 partner workshops and two logistics hubs.
Why now? The succession, initiated in 2023, concludes with this transaction. Nadège Paumier takes over as president, Samuel Falk as managing director, and Stéphanie Roy as chief financial officer.
What's the endgame? The new leadership aims to accelerate growth in France and abroad by equipping more boutiques for existing clients, winning new brands, and expanding into adjacent sectors such as hospitality, transport, and cosmetics.
"There is real growth potential, both with existing houses and with new clients, and we share the team's goal of making Kami Europe's benchmark for premium uniforms," said Raphaël Lahaye, a partner at MBO Buyout.
What could go wrong? With terms and financial performance undisclosed, the deal signals a change in ownership but not the scale of the opportunity. Delivering international growth will test whether the management team can match the trust the founders built over three decades.
The signal: This is a management-led buyout rather than a simple financial bet, reflecting how mid-market firms increasingly back succession at founder-run specialists. For MBO+, Kami offers a niche position serving Europe's luxury sector — a segment where supplier reliability and brand fidelity carry a premium.
Read more: mbo.plus
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
