Piquadro shares soared on the Stock Exchange, earning 4,2% by mid-morning, at 1,845 euros. The wave of purchases was triggered by the news that the leather goods company concluded the acquisition of Lancel International, a company until now wholly controlled by the Swiss giant Richemont and owner of the "Lancel" brand, as well as 99,9958, XNUMX% of the French company Lancel Sogedi SA and of the Spanish and Italian companies that manage the Lancel boutiques present in the two countries.
As consideration, Richemont will receive a share of the profits (in any case not exceeding a total of 35 million euros) realized by the Lancel Group in the ten years following the closing.
“We are particularly proud to bring to the Piquadro Group a historic French brand that represents unique excellence, a style icon since 1876 – commented Marco Palmieri, president and CEO of the Piquadro Group – This acquisition is part of a accessory brand aggregation strategy that began about a year ago with the acquisition of the historic Florentine leather goods brand The Bridge, a strategy that we are determined to pursue in order to generate growing synergies”.
La Maison Lancel, based in Paris and founded in 1876, creates and distributes luxury leather goods through a network of 60 directly operated and 11 franchised stores in 39 countries, including China. In the financial year ended 31 March 2018, the Lancel Group achieved a turnover of approximately 53 million euros and recorded a negative Ebitda of approximately 23 million.
At the acquisition completion date, the Lancel Group has a positive net financial position of approximately 41 million, with sufficient financial resources to support the Group's business, a significantly reduced annual operating cost structure due to actions already taken by Richemont as well as an estimated net worth of around 36 million.
Piquadro was assisted by Mediobanca and MGB Capital Ltd as financial advisors.
