Bally Faces Swiss Restructuring Procedure, Regent Reinstates Long-term Commitment to Turnaround

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Bally is undergoing a court-mediated restructuring in Switzerland amid layoffs and factory closures, but owner Regent reiterated its commitment to the brand.

MILAN — Bally ’s turnaround under its relatively new owner, the investment firm Regent, is facing challenges.

According to paperwork reviewed by WWD, the brand’s Swiss legal entity Bally Schuhfabriken GmbH has been placed under a court-mediated restructuring procedure in Switzerland , called “moratoria concordataria.”

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The brand continues to operate and stores remain open globally.

A Regent spokesperson confirmed the procedure is ongoing and told WWD that the investment firm’s “business has long consisted of acquiring companies already in severe distress and working to preserve and grow viable businesses through restructuring. Our track record illustrates that we are successful far more often than not. Bally was acquired for that purpose.”

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The spokesperson added that Bally “was already a deeply distressed business when Regent acquired it after its prior owner had tried for years to sell it. The restructuring, which is being done as part of an effort to save the entity and jobs, has required difficult decisions, particularly in Switzerland , and those decisions are why the company is in an orderly, court-supervised restructuring. The moratorium is overseen by a court-appointed administrator and exists to protect creditors.”

A market source who requested anonymity said Bally’s net debt could stand at 80 million Swiss francs, fourfold the amount that was widely circulated in local Swiss media. Regent declined to comment “on the operational or financial specifics of its portfolio companies, and matters concerning the Bally Schuhfabriken GmbH business sit within the Swiss proceeding, where they are properly addressed.”

The restructuring proceedings are expected to conclude in October, four months after they began in June, when a court in Lugano, Switzerland , is due to determine whether Bally Schuhfabriken GmbH qualifies for a court-mediated continuity and debt-restructuring process.

In 2024 Bally was acquired by an affiliate of Regent, the owner of Club Monaco and Escada, from its previous shareholder, the investment holding company JAB. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

Founded in 1851 by brothers Carl Franz and Fritz Bally, the luxury brand is headquartered in Caslano, Switzerland , and had 1,500 employees worldwide at the time of the sale. It is understood that its global workforce has since been reduced to about 1,000 people, although Regent declined to provide specifics.

This was the result of several layoffs carried out since Regent took over the company. In the most recent round, last May, 27 employees were let go and the Caslano manufacturing site shuttered, leaving Bally with no running Swiss-based production facility.

The company also shuttered its production site in Lastra a Signa, in the outskirts of Florence, last May, letting go the remaining 28 employees. That site used to employ about 55 people until the end of 2025.

“The company had reached a final agreement with the union on the closure of its last remaining production operation and had issued dismissal notices to the 27 workers who remained. It was already clear that the situation was dire, following a period of considerable complexity,” Paolo Coppi, vice secretary of Swiss trade union OCST, told WWD.

He said the company currently employs about 60 workers in the Canton of Ticino, mainly in administrative roles.

“The bitterness among workers is understandable: for two years, there has been no clear industrial plan for a turnaround….As a union, we are remaining in the background for now. Nevertheless, we have to ask ourselves what is really going on beneath the surface,” Coppi said.

According to a market source, Regent recently moved Bally’s registered headquarters from the Canton of Ticino to the Canton of Zug to benefit from a more favorable tax regime, the source alleged.

Swiss newspaper “La Regione” has alleged that Regent has also attempted to transfer the Bally trademark to American company Aare LLC. That sale was reportedly halted by a Lugano magistrate’s court. The media outlet also claimed that such a move could be seen as an attempt to further devalue the brand “before reacquiring its assets at a substantially lower price and free from historical liabilities.”

Evidence of these developments could not be confirmed independently by WWD.

On these allegations the Regent spokesperson told WWD that “certain matters connected to the restructuring are before the Swiss courts, and it would be improper to characterize pending proceedings. We would note that there has been a great deal of inaccurate reporting and speculation surrounding these matters, much of it repeated from outlet to outlet without verification.”

The same newspaper also alleged that Regent had received a takeover offer for all of Bally’s assets, including its trademark, from Swiss entrepreneur Roberto Martullo. The newspaper claimed that the offer was allegedly turned down by Regent.

Regent told WWD that it was never made aware of an offer.

“We are quite puzzled by Mr. Martullo’s statements to the press, because he has never contacted Regent or anyone at Regent. Not a meeting, not a call, not a letter, not an email,” the company’s spokesperson said.

“Regent owns the Bally group, so any offer to acquire it, or the brand, would have to come to Regent. None ever did: no written offer, no letter of intent, no price, no terms, from Mr. Martullo or anyone acting on his behalf. There was nothing to reject, because nothing was ever received. By his own public account, his discussions concerned the Caslano factory, and Regent is not aware of any formal offer from Mr. Martullo concerning Caslano either,” the spokesperson added.

“Regent owns Bally and intends to own it for the long haul. The brand is not for sale. Regent acquires heritage brands to own and operate them, and its commitment to Bally, to its employees and customers, its 175 years of history and to its Swiss identity is long term. The strategy is a focused Bally, anchored in the markets where it is historically strongest,” they said.

Two years after acquiring Bally, Regent’s business plan for the brand has yet to come to fruition.

Since the acquisition, the Swiss label parted ways with longtime chief executive officer Nicolas Girotto in October 2024, who was succeeded by general manager Ennio Fontana, and with creative director Simone Bellotti in January 2025, who moved on to Jil Sander. The brand, which offers collections of ready-to-wear, shoes, bags and accessories for both men and women, has since been designed by the in-house team.

In 2025, veteran fashion and retail executive Mario Grauso joined investment firm Regent as operating partner of its fashion and luxury group. Last February he assumed leadership responsibilities at Bally, as chief creative officer and with oversight on its business operations. As a result, Fontana exited the brand.

Under Grauso’s watch, Bally relocated its Milan flagship to a new location on Via Montenapoleone, unveiling a new store concept.

According to its website, Bally operates more than 100 stores globally across Asia; the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, and in the U.S., alongside selective wholesale partnerships. It is understood that some of Bally’s stores in Switzerland have recently been shuttered as part of a broader retail rationalization strategy. Regent did not provide additional details on the state of its retail.

As part of his group-level role, Grauso also has oversight of the business of DIM, another company in the Regent portfolio. The company said that the executive continues to hold his roles at Bally.

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