Vtb Capital, the investment arm of Russian lender Vtb Bank, won’t buy a majority stake in the Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli.
Vtb Capital was expected to buy a 70% stake in the Florentine company for 400 million euros (see a previous post by BeBeez)
This is not the first time a potential investor pulls out of a deal at the last minute with Roberto Cavalli. Earlier this yeat it was paneuropean private equity firm Permira who ended talks after failing to agree on a valuation (see a previous post by BeBeez). It was then Bahrain-based private equity company Investcorp’s turn (see a previous post by BeBeez) followed by Swiss high-end watch-maker Franck Muller (see a previous post by BeBeez), while in 2009 Italian private equity firm Clessidra pulled back after negotiations have been lasting for months.
Neither Cavalli nor Vtb Capital were available for a comment. However it seems that on top of the international sanctions’ problem related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, a crucial divergence of views emerged about some specific assets to be part of the deal.
The problem emerged a couple of weeks ago in relation to Cavalli’s headquarter in Paris, MF Milano Finanza wrote last November 20th. This is a seven-stores building based between rue Cambon and rue Saint-Honoré, which Mr. Cavalli wanted to keep for himself in a sale and lease back deal. However that building is now an asset of the company and was in part responsible for the maison’s high valutaion. The building had been valued 30 million euros at first, then the value was raised to 50 millions and finally a last survey valued it 90 millions.
As Mr. Cavalli ended talks with Vtb Capital he also pulled out from a verbal agreement with Peter Dundas, now creative director of Emilio Pucci, who had been chosed as the new creative director of Cavalli’s company.
