The Court of Bologna will hold the hearing about Italian luxury shoes maker Bruno Magli‘s possible rescue in the next few days.
The historical fashion brand founded in 1936 asked for an insolvency proceeding (Italian concordato preventivo , art. 161 Legge Fallimentare) last July 15th, after the last unique shareholder, the Swiss Da Vinci Invest fund, failed to save the company.
Da Vinci bought out Bruno Magli just last January from UK private equity fund Fortelus Capital, which in turn bought the company in 2007.
The Bologna Court will evaluate a couple of offers for the company. Word is that US private equity operator Carlyle is interested while last August some contacts with Gmi Usa Corp‘s ceo Stefano Maroni were made. Gmi is a distributor of licensed shoes brands such ad Ben Sherman and was already a distributor for Bruno Magli in the US.
Before signing an agreement with Da Vinci Invest, Fortelus entered in exclusive talks with South Korean investors E-land and CDIB Capital International. E-land, owner of fashion brands such as italian Coccinelle and Mandarina Duck, is one of the leading groups in the fashion sector in South Korea while CDIB Capital is an Asia private equity operator controlled by China Development Financial, one of the biggest banking groups in China. So it is possible that those two subjects too have still an interest to Bruno Magli brand.
