As a result of the liquidation, five Folli Follie stores and seven Links of London locations in Hong Kong were closed on 9 June.
Derek Lai, vice-chairman Deloitte China, said the closure would affect 60 employees, adding, “We have seen more retailers file for liquidation recently. We will handle Hong Kong first; for stores in other areas, we will see if there are any buyers.”
FF Group operates three Folli Follie stores in Australia, located at DFO South Wharf and Chadstone in Melbourne, and the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.
At the time of publication, the Folli Follie Hong Kong and Taiwan websites remained operational, though websites for Japan and China displayed an ‘Under Construction’ message. There is no dedicated website for Folli Follie Australia. The Links Of London International, Japan, China, and Hong Kong websites all displayed the same ‘Under Construction’ message; only its Greek website remained operational.
Long-term difficulties
FF Group, which was founded in Athens in 1982, has been embroiled in controversy since 2017, when an internal audit found revenue had been overstated by up to $US1 billion ($AU1.45 billion) – largely concentrated in its Asian operations.
Links of London UK, a subsidiary of FF Group, was placed into administration in October 2019 and was wound up in January 2020. Links of London US filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is roughly equivalent to liquidation under Australian law, in 2018.
Greek authorities have since laid a range of charges against senior FF Group executives and board members, including fraud, money laundering, creating a criminal organisation, forgery, and manipulating stock market prices.
Among those charged was founder Dimitris Koutsolioutsos, who resigned from the company in 2017. Koutsolioutsos retains a 35 per cent stake in the business, while a further 16.4 per cent is controlled by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, according to data from Refinitiv.
According to a report in the South China Morning Post, FF Group recently underwent a €300 million ($AU492 million) debt restructuring and narrowly avoided bankruptcy in February.
More reading:
Jewellery company executives charged with financial crimes, forgery
UK Links of London placed into administration