Bernard Arnault expands his empire in Italy. The French luxury manager, patron of the LVMH group which already owns made in Italy brands of the caliber of Bulgari, Fendi, Loro Piana, Acqua di Parma, adds the Milanese brand to his precious stable Etro. The acquisition in this case took place through the L Catterton fund, participated by Financière Agache which is headed by Arnault, and concerns 60% of the capital: the remaining 40% will remain in the hands of the Etro family, i.e. the founder's four children Gerolamo known as Gimmo, who in 1968 invented this fashion house in Milan that produces men's and women's clothing collections and other collections that include accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. A brand that has become very chic but has recently entered a crisis mainly due to the pandemic, but in reality even earlier: hitherto controlled by the financial Gefin, Etro had closed 2019 with revenues down to 283,6 million (-0,5% compared to 285 million in 2018) and an operating margin gross down to 15,7 million (-34% from 22,47 million in 2018)
Fashion is one of the sectors that has suffered the most and Ippolito, Jacopo, Kean and Veronica Etro found themselves forced to sell the majority stake to grow the family business, which will now be able to make substantial investments in digitization for optimize e-commerce and that in the hands of a large group will be able to make the leap into a fundamental market such as the Chinese one. The children will remain shareholders with 10% each and they will continue to work on the product, as they already do: Kean designs the men's collection, Veronica the women's, Jacopo has dedicated himself to that of the house and Ippolito has always followed the brand's strategy. The Etro family will also remain the owner of all the properties instrumental to the activity, such as the shops, including the one in via Monte Napoleone, but also the atelier and the various headquarters of the group in Via Spartaco in Milan. Arnault prevailed after Etro was long courted by private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds, especially the emirs of Qatar. In the end, the reliability of the French manager prevailed, who would have put half a billion euros on the plate.
For the transalpine tycoon it is the umpteenth blow in Italy but not only: LVMH has recently also got its hands on the German company, also a family one, which produces the Birkenstock sandals of the same name. Not to mention that in the past months, albeit after very tough negotiations, even the prestigious American brand Tiffany has entered the Arnault galaxy.
