From Rinascente to Grandi Stazioni. It is the new adventure attempted by Maurice Borletti, the last successful heir of a long dynasty of Italian entrepreneurs: from Romualdo, who in 1875 founded the "National Linificio e canapificio", thus creating one of the first and largest textile companies in Italy and Europe, passing through Senatore, uncle of Maurizio, which he founded in 1917 La Rinascente, a family business for almost a century. Sold in the 70s to the Fiat group, the business was in fact repurchased by Maurizio in 2005 and resold for a record amount to a Thai fund, after having regenerated its accounts and image.
Il Borletti group is now the only Italian competitor left in the tender for the sale of Large Retail Stations, the subsidiary of FS and Eurostazioni (private company owned by Benetton, Caltagirone, Pirelli) which manages – after the spin-off – the activities relating to the economic exploitation of commercial spaces, media & advertising, luggage storage, toilets in the 14 main railway stations Italian. At the moment, among the non-binding offers, the highest is that of the consortium led by Deutsche Bank, from which the other Italian player involved so far, Poste Vita, is withdrawing. There is talk of over 800 million, compared to the approximately 730 put on the plate to date by the consortium formed by the Borletti family together with the French funds Antin and Icamap, dealing respectively with highway infrastructure and real estate. However, the game is still wide open: the CEO of Grandi Stazioni Paolo Gallo said he expects the definitive offers by the end of May, before which date, however, further information must be provided to interested parties. And in the meantime Maurizio Borletti relaunches, with a project of over 100 million for a pole of fashion and luxury in San Marino, which will be presented during the week.
From department stores to department stores: why, after decades of activity in department stores and after having relaunched La Rinascente, are you betting on this new business?
“With the Internet, the paradigm has changed: now we need to aim at places of great transit, not at those – as in the past – where customers have to go on purpose. Japan figured this out decades ago, building stations that were ready to be used as shopping malls. We are behind in Europe, even if I have to say that Grandi Stazioni's business is one of the most advanced among its continental competitors”.
How much is the tourist transit in the main Italian railway stations worth in terms of potential customers?
“We are talking about 700 million travelers every year. To give you a yardstick, in the recent golden age La Rinascente reached 15 million customers a year and Printemps, the French department store we also own, reached 20 million. It is true that those who go to a shop are usually more intent on buying than a simple traveler who passes by, but these are the numbers”.
At the moment your offer does not seem to be successful, but what is the added value that you would be able to offer to Grandi Stazioni, in addition to the Italian character of the project?
“Our family has a long experience in this sector, made up of great successes. GS management has set itself the goal of doubling current profitability (50 million Ebitda) within 5 years: I say that much more can be done with the right interventions. Take Milan as an example: it has 300 square meters of income, but it could have double that".
Your know-how is certainly more coherent than that offered by large international funds that are unaware of Italian business and dynamics. Concretely, what could be one of the first objectives to improve the quality of commercial activities in stations?
“Undoubtedly CRM (Customer relationship management), or the management of customer relationships through careful development of the database. And then with a quality but varied offer: we also have good experience in luxury, but a railway station is not via Montenapoleone”.
In the wake of the success achieved by relaunching La Rinascente, particularly in the historic center of Piazza Duomo in Milan?
“We have a historic bond with that brand, and I was also sad to have to sell it in 2011, but the consortium that bought it in 2005, for 800 million euros, also included some private equity funds that had no interest in extending the 'investment. Thus an indispensable offer arrived from Central Retail Corporation, a Thai fund: they paid 13 times the Ebitda, excluding real estate, a record for the time. In any case, it was a wonderful five-year period: we invested a billion in all, including the 200 million of investments to reconceive the Milan store from top to bottom. At the time, Rinascente had a turnover of 6 billion, of which 5,2 billion in the food sector and only 0,8 for everything else. We wanted to bring high-end commerce back to the center of the project, on the model of international department stores such as Harrod's and Printemps, however dedicating the pearl of the top floor with terrace to food, where about 7 million people go every year : almost half of our annual customers go up to the top floor. It is a rarity for a shopping centre”.
The results have been seen, even on a financial level.
“The Duomo shop, which alone already accounted for half of the company's turnover, has increased its sales by 70% in five years. An exceptional result if you consider that those were also years of crisis: we sold in 2011, in the midst of the recession”.
Besides the sale, do you have any other regrets?
“Yes, that of not being able to open the Rome store in via del Tritone: we bought it in 2006, it was supposed to be ready in 2011 and instead it will only be ready in 2018. This makes us understand how difficult it is, sometimes, to work in Italy".
It seems to have gone better with the new project in San Marino, though.
"Absolutely yes. In just three years we obtained the permits to build, from scratch, a 25.000 m100 shopping center entirely dedicated to luxury: 100 shops, for a total investment of over 2018 million euros. The concept is that of the Castelromano or Serravalle-style outlet, covering an area, the Adriatic, which does not yet have large areas of this type. The center will also be well positioned, in a strategic point of great transit on the highway that connects San Marino to Rimini, and therefore to the Adriatic motorway. It will be ready in 10, like La Rinascente in Rome, and this activity alone will represent 4% of the GDP of the small San Marino republic. We will present the project to the press and to all San Marino citizens on Wednesday XNUMX May in San Marino”
