Italy’s Clessidra sgr private equity firm is in talks for selling its controlling stake in the capital of iconic jewellery Buccellati, the company’s ceo Gianluca Brozzetti told WWD last weekend. Clessidra bought a 67% stake in the company in 2013 while the Buccellati family retained the remaining 33% (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
“This is what private equities normally do and I can say that those interested in the company are many,” Mr. Brozzetti said revealing also that Buccellati is looking at the Middle and Far East to expand its business. “We are about to open a corner in Doha with our partner Ali Bin Ali and we are scouting locations across China and Asia” Brozzett said.
Among potential bidders is said to be Compagnie financière Richemont, the Zurich-listed financial holding which controls Cartier, Officine Panerai e Montblanc.
Buccellati’s revenues have grown by 20% in the first quarter of 2016 after the company had reached 41 million euros in 2’15 or 20% up from 2014.
The jewelry company has revamped and enlarged its historic Milanese flagship on Via Montenapoleone. The boutique, which spans more than 2,368 square feet, now features the new concept, which made its debut last year in Paris and New York, and includes a wooden floor, walls covered with brocade, wood panels, mirrors and the brand’s signature crystal credenzas.
Clessidra is also said to be mulling the sale of Roberto Cavalli fashion maison too, MF Fashion wrote yesterday. This sounds quite early as the fund acquired a 90% stake in the company just one year ago and the management is now implementing a restructuring plan to rebalance the financials. Cavalli’s revenues dropped by 14.2% in 2015 to 179.7 million euros while ebitda was negative by 1.6 millions even if the company striked a 32.7 million euros net profit (after a 9.7 millions net loss in 2014) thanks to the sale of a building in rue Saint Honoré in Paris.
