China's Daphne Teams With Taiwanese Pou Chen Group

One of China's leading women's shoe brands, Daphne, has established a partnership with the Taiwanese shoe maker Pou Chen Group to jointly develop the Chinese mainland and the global high-end women's shoe market.

Under the terms of the cooperation, Daphne will invest NTD1 billion to acquire a 60% stake in Pou Chen Group's Aee and will explore the mainland and global high-end markets for Aee brand women's shoes.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Aee is a five-year-old women's shoe brand which was previously 60% owned by Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited, a subsidiary of Pou Chen Group. After the acquisition, Daphne will own a 60% stake in Aee and Yue Yuen will own the remaining 40%.

At present, Aee has over 200 stores in the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It made revenues of CNY300 million and a profit of CNY10 million in 2009. With the collaboration of Daphne, the number of Aee stores in expected to reach between 800 and 1,000 in the next three years, with a target annual revenue of over CNY1 billion.