Luxury shoe specialist Kurt Geiger has been bought by its management in a £95 million buy-out.

The sale was backed by private equity firm Graphite Capital and led by Kurt Geiger chief executive Neil Clifford.

Clifford said: “We offer some of the world’s best shoes in an unrivalled retail environment and are well recognised for the quality of our ranges and the high standard of our customer service. We will continue to invest in new growth opportunities with our department store partners. With Graphite’s support, we will pursue our strategic objective of becoming the leading global luxury and premium shoe retailer.”

The buy-out team also includes buying and creative director Rebecca Farrar-Hockley, finance director Dale Christilaw, retail operations director Sally McClymont and wholesale and licensing director Andrew Lee.

Kurt Geiger was put up for sale by Barclays Private Equity at the end of last year. Barclays bought the retailer from Mohamed Al Fayed in 2005 for£46 million.

Graphite Capital has been involved in a raft of other retail investments, including Jane Norman, Game and Paperchase.

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