Prada agrees to buy Versace at € 1.25 billion

Prada Spa announced on Thursday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Versace of Capri Holdings, completing a negotiation that had lasted only a few months.

Cash consideration, based on a business value of € 1.25 billion, is subject to adjustments at the closure. However, the price of the label is also significantly lower than the CAPRI of € 1.83 billion paid to buy Versace in 2018.

Founded in 1978 in Milan, Versace is one of the main international fashion and epitome design houses of the Italian luxury worldwide. On the basis of a remarkable brand awareness, Versace stands as a distinctive asset in the luxury landscape. Deeply rooted in the history of fashion, the brand shows a strong potential to read contemporaneity and marked sensitivity when capturing and anticipating the spirit of current and future society, Prada emphasized in a launch.

“We are delighted to welcome Versace to the Prada Group and to build a new chapter for a brand with which we share a strong commitment to creativity, crafts and inheritance. Our goal is to continue with the legacy of Versace celebrating and reinterpreting its bold and timeless aesthetics; at the same time, we will provide a strong platform, reinforced by years of the investments and rooted in the long -term organization Data.

The agreement occurs a month after Capri announced that Donatella Versace, sister of the founder Gianni Versace, would resign as creative director of the house to become her ambassador. It was replaced by Dario Vitale, formerly MIU MIU Design Director, the fastest growing label in the Prada Group.

With its highly recognizable aesthetics, the brand constitutes a strongly complementary addition to the Prada group portfolio and shows a significant growth potential without exploiting that takes advantage of multiple value creation levers, Prada said.

Within the Prada Group, Versace will maintain its creative DNA and its cultural authenticity, while benefiting from the full strength of the group's consolidated platform, including industrial capacities, retail execution and operational experience.

“The acquisition of Versace marks another step on the evolutionary trip of our group, adding a new dimension, different and complementary. The infrastructure of the group is strong, we have verticalized the organizations of our brands and reinforced our routines and processes. We feel ready to open this new chapter. Versace has great potential. The trip that will require disciplined execution and patience. The evolution of the evolution of an evolution Brand.