The potential private equity deal on Chiara Ferragni Collection, the activity of the well-known Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni that was born through licenses placed by Fenice srl (formerly Serendipity) and ranges from footwear to children’s clothing, from underwear to stationery, is starting to take shape in more detail. The start of the search for a private equity partner, unveiled in preview by Mrs. Ferragni herself on January 24th in an interview to Il Corriere Economia (see here a previous article by BeBeez), was then confirmed by the blogger the next day in a post on Instagram.
According to reports from Il Sole 24 Ore, 66% of the capital of the company is on sale. Fenice is currently 32.5% owned by Mrs. Ferragni and 40% by the shareholders Paolo Barletta (through Alchimia spa), Nicola Bulgari (former owner of the emonymus jewels maker, with 13.75%) and the Barindelli and Morgese families (13.75%, through Esuriens srl).
The search for a new partner has just started, with the mandate entrusted to Bnp Paribas and with the aim of earning the new partner in capital increase. Mrs. Ferragni herself had said to Il Corriere Economia: “We have always had the idea of having a fund in the capital, but first we had to put the company financially in order and find harmony. Today, after two years of work, since I took over the leadership of the company and the results are coming, it is the right time to have a financial partner. That’s my goal now: I don’t intend to monetize my holdings, but I want the company to grow“.
Fenice closed 2021 with approximately 26 million euros of aggregate revenues (of which 4.6 millions, + 300%, were revenues from royalties), according to Il Corriere, numbers therefore much higher than those reported in the 2020 financial statements, as already reported by BeBeez: that year net revenues were only 1.2 millions, with a negative ebitda of 500k euros, a loss of 3.5 millions and a net financial debt of 300k euros (see here the report Leanus, after registering for free). And 2022, as reported by the blogger to Il Corriere Economia, will be even more stellar: forecasts are for an aggregate turnover of 61 millions (of which royalties revenues of 12.5 millions, +172%) and a gross operating margin of 2.4 millions. We need to understand yet exactly how the company arrived to the 2021 numbers and how Mrs. Ferragni imagines to reach the promised ones of 2022. And it is on this point that Bnp Paribas will have to work to convince private equity firms, which on paper are certainly interested in the deal, especially those with a fashion vocation.
We recall that Chiara Ferragni Collection’s business is completely independent from the other one the influencer makes through TBS Crew srl, which manages The Blonde Salad, a fashion blog created in 2009 with her boyfriend of the time, Riccardo Pozzoli, also co-founder of Chiara Ferragni Collection, which has long since left the capital of the Ferragni companies.
TBS closed 2020 with 4.7 million euros in revenues, an ebitda of 2 millions and 1.6 millions in net liquidity (see the Leanus report here, after registering for free). FY 2021 then saw revenues rise to 6.8 millions. The company is 100% controlled by the parent company Sisterhood srl. Which has been wholly owned by Mrs. Ferragni since last June 2021 (see the Instagram post here). In particular, then Esuriens was liquidated, the company of the Morgese and Barindelli families and which owned 45% of the capital of Sisterhood. The influencer is said to have paid one million euros to buy back the stake. In turn, Sisterhood closed 2021 with revenues of 13.5 millions, in line with 2020.
