Italy’s Missoni picks Rothschild to advise on potential sale

Italian fashion house Missoni has picked Rothschild as financial adviser to explore a potential sale of the family-owned company, two sources close to the matter said on Friday.

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Missoni is still controlled by the founding family which owns 59% of the brand known for its multi-coloured designs.

Italian investment fund FSI holds the remaining 41% after it injected 70 million euros into the fashion house in 2018.

The Missoni family is open to considering all options including a full divestment of its stake but no decision has been taken on whether or not it would sell it, one of the sources said.

The decision to look into a possible sale with support from an adviser follows unsolicited expressions of interest which Missoni received from larger luxury groups over the summer, a third source separately said.

No formal process for the sale has yet started, though the company has carried out the necessary preliminary work, one of the first two sources said.

Speaking at an online event in October, Missoni Chief Executive Livio Proli said being part of a larger luxury group could have its advantages.

“We are convinced that whether the Missoni brand continues alone or with the resources and synergies of a large group, it must remain very focused on its specific craftsmanship”, he said at the time.

Proli said in a newspaper interview in August he expected revenues of 125 million euros ($135.84 million) this year, up from 115 million in 2022. The adjusted core profit stood at around 5 million euros last year.