Rome (AP) – The Prada Group announced on Thursday an agreement to buy the rival of Crosstown Milan Versace fashion from the American luxury group Capri Holdings in terms which values one of the most recognizable names in Italian fashion at 1.25 billion euros ($ 1.4 billion).
The agreement will put Versace, Known for its sexy silhouettes and its daring Greeco and Medusa patterns, under the same roof as the “ugly chic” aesthetics of Prada and the Miu Miu, focused on young people, whose amazing growth in recent years has largely exceeded the market. Prada said the Versace brand, aged 47, offered “significant unexploited growth potential”.
“This is exactly the strength of our group. There are no rides in terms of creativity, in terms of customer,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, director of marketing of Prada, who is prepared one day to take control of the business, and Miuccia Prada, the group’s creative force and the largest shareholder, and Patrizio Bertelli, its president and the executive director – transformed a world juggernai.
“We buy a brand with enormous potential, with a very recognizable aesthetics,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, stressing that the recognition of the Versace brand, putting it among the first 10 in the world, prevails far on its commercial performance.
The final value of the agreement will be adjusted to the fence, which is provided for in the second half, said the Prada group. It will be funded by 1.5 billion euros in new debts and has been approved by the Prada and Capri Holdings board.
Prada director general Andrea Guerra said the agreement was to build “sustainable income growth” and stimulate the brand’s identity, and did not aim to squeeze synergies. Prada’s declaration stressed that Versace “will maintain its creative DNA and its cultural authenticity”, while benefiting from its “industrial capacities, execution of retail and expertise of operations”.
It is not planned to change the CEO and Miuccia Prada will not be involved in the creative side of Versace, the leaders said. Guerra added that the recent creative reshuffle in Versace, with the Miu Dario Vitale design chief replacement Donatella Versace As creative director from April 1, had nothing to do with the agreement. He called it “an” independent, very personal “decision by Vitale.
Lorenzo Bertelli said that Miu Miu’s growth experience has shown that small changes can make all the difference. “We do not need to change the brand, to revolutionize it. We just have to make it evolve, to move good things, and all together, we hope that it will bring a huge spark and bring Versace to be a huge success,” he said.
Capri Holdings, who owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, paid $ 2 billion for Versace in 2018, but had trouble positioning the daring profile of Versace in the recent era of “silent luxury”.
Versace represented 20% of Capri Holdings 2024 revenues of 5.2 billion euros. A presentation of analysts for the Prada agreement said that Versace would represent 13% of Prada group pro-forma income, the Miu Miu arriving at 22% and Prada at 64%. The Prada group, which also includes church shoes, reported a 17% increase in revenues to 5.4 billion euros last year.
Donatella Versace, who took office as creative director at the fashion house founded by her brother, Gianni Versace, after her 1997 murder, continues with the fashion house in the new role of the ambassador of the Chief brand.
“I am absolutely delighted to be part of the Prada family,” she wrote in an article on Instagram under a photo of herself and Miuccia Prada. I am honored to have the brand in the hands of such a reliable Italian family business, and I am ready to support this new era for the brand anyway. ”
The Italian government has welcomed an agreement that seems to secure the longer term future of Versace, because other family fashion brands have weakened or even disappeared after opening to external investors.
“A historic brand” Made in Italy “is again Italian,” said Minister of Industry Adolfo Urso.
