Andrea Guerra and Prada’s future

«This is a fundamental step we have decided to undertake, in the midst of our business, in order to be able to contribute more to the evolution of the Prada group and to facilitate the generational shift by initiating Lorenzo Bertelli to assume the leadership of the group», Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada explained. That is how the major shareholders, after almost a week of speculations (see MFF of November 29), make official the arrival of Andrea Guerra, former manager at Luxottica and Lvmh, to work on the generational shift within the Prada group. «At the Prada spa board meeting scheduled for january 26, 2023, Andrea Guerra will be proposed in the role of ceo of the Prada group».

It should be mentioned that the Hong Kong-listed group is 80% controlled by the Bertelli-Prada family, so the board’s go-ahead is a foregone conclusion. Miuccia Prada will retain her position as creative director of Miu Miu and Prada, the latter alongside Raf Simons, and as a board member. At the shareholders’ meeting to approve the 2022 budget, Patrizio Bertelli will be proposed in the role of chairman of the board of Prada spa Paolo Zannoni will be proposed in the role of executive vice chairman of the board and at the same time chairman of Prada holding spa Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli commented, «We thank Andrea Guerra for accepting the offer with the goal of sustained and sustainable growth for the group. With his long professional experience, Andrea Guerra has demonstrated entrepreneurial skills in companies characterized by the reference presence of the founders’ family, integrating their culture with the evolution of the company in international markets».

For the first time in its history as a listed company, Prada will thus have a ceo who is not part of the founding family. And the market and analysts approve (see article above). Just a week ago, rumors had given the top manager a former executive of Lvmh’s Hospitality excellence division and a member of the French giant’s executive committee until the end of the year as the one chosen to facilitate the handover from the group’s current number one, Patrizio Bertelli, to his son Lorenzo. Contacted by MFF, the company had then responded with a dry «no comment». Bertelli and Guerra have known each other since 2003 (see box on the side), when the manager convinced the luxury giant, which at the time was a 5% shareholder in eyewear manufacturer De Rigo, to hand over the licensing of its brands to Luxottica group. The two managers are said to have strengthen relations in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. Prada’s patron and Guerra are in fact neighbors in the Arezzo hills and seem to have been able to hang out often during the lockdown, as both often retreated to the countryside to work remotely.

Guerra, who in recent days also reportedly met with some of Bertelli’s front-line managers at Prada’s headquarters on Via Fogazzaro in Milan, is also reportedly very familiar with coo Massimo Vian, who heads Prada’s industrial management and was a member of his former team at Luxottica. It seems that already eight years ago, at the time of his resignation as Luxottica’s ceo, Guerra had been contacted by the fashion house. Now from the Hong Kong listed brand’s headquarters comes certainty. For now, no one involved is available for further comment. However, the vision seems clear: bringing the group to the next generational transition. It will be up to Guerra to act as a bridge and facilitate the handover between Patrizio and Lorenzo Bertelli. The eldest son of Miuccia Prada and the entrepreneur from Arezzo joined the company in 2017 and has been involved in sustainability in recent years.

«Passing the helm to my son Lorenzo within three years is an option», Patrizio Bertelli had said during the Group’s Capital markets day just over a year ago (see MFF of November 19, 2021). As recalled by his father also publicly, therefore, he is the dauphin of the Tuscan-Lombard dynasty who will take the luxury group forward. (All rights reserved)