China's Shandong Ruyi to buy French fashion firm SMCP

China’s Shandong Ruyi said it will buy a controlling stake in SMCP, the French firm behind affordable luxury fashion brands Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot, Reuters reported. Shandong Ruyi said the deal would combine the French firm’s fashion know-how with its own business network in China, the world’s second largest economy where consumers are increasingly looking for “accessible luxury” products.  It did not give a value for the purchase. Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot, which sell dresses priced at around 200 euros, operate in the so-called accessible segment of the luxury market, enjoying solid demand among fast-growing middle classes in countries such as China.