M&A focus on shoes

Rumors about the advances state of negotiations (see MFF of June 18) for the acquisition of Gianvito Rossi by Otb revive the interest of luxury holding companies in shoe manufacturers that have remained independent. Besides, there is not much left in the market to buy, considering the necessary conditions for a shoe company to be judged attractive, meaning high quality level, a proper company size, and possibly the presence of a brand with growth prospects to be centered through synergies with brands owned by the acquiring group.

Gianvito Rossi aside, considered today as the name of highest prestige in terms of production capacity in the high-end and rate of expansion, the road to these possible acquisitions would still lead to Emilia Romagna. Among the five big companies in the area, besides Gianvito Rossi, the only family-owned company is Casadei, with Arianna Casadei, daughter of creative director Cesare Casadei, as ceo. The other three have already gone through the handover: Pollini belongs to Aeffe, Sergio Rossi to Fosun fashion group (before that it was owned by Kering and Investindustrial), and Baldinini to the Bologna-based financial company Finross. However, in the San Mauro Pascoli district, further developments for these and other luxury shoe companies are not ruled out.

Another area with high M&a potential is Marche, Italy’s leading footwear region where at the moment, as Confindustria Fermo director Giuseppe Tosi told MFF, «there are no negotiations under way. In the past there had been a scouting phase by investment funds that visited some companies that were interesting to them with the intention of buying them, but the entrepreneurs politely declined the offer». Meanwhile, after the direct entries of Fendi and Loro Piana, and after the gradual strengthening of brands such as Gucci, Prada, and finally Liu jo footwear through Eli group, the Marche region is waiting for the arrival of Louis Vuitton in the Civitanova area.

Moving up to the Veneto region, in Riviera del Brenta, namely Italy’s most important district for high-end women’s shoes, there are two new developments: the entry of Bottega Veneta, which has moved its product development headquarters for shoes from Malo in Vicenza to Vigonza in Padua, and the opening in Vigonza as well of the new headquarters of Philippe Model, a sneaker brand that has been under the control of Alessandro Benetton’s 21 Invest since 2016. «There could be further developments», the newly appointed president of the footwear section of Confindustria Veneto Est, Daniele Salmaso commented, pointing out that «there is increasing work for smaller brands of the holding companies and in the future something similar to what happened with Saint Laurent, whose insertion into footwear started from a small office within Sergio Rossi and which today, in our district, operates with two factories».

Balenciaga is among the brands that could soon establish a local headquarters since it has already developed two manufacturing partnerships with companies in the Brenta area. Moving down to Puglia, the list of suitors for Leo shoes is very long, as the Casarano-based company is the world leader in luxury sneakers with 235 million in revenues by 2022, but a sale does not seem to be part of the plans of founder and president Antonio Filograna Sergio, who launched a top-end leather goods line last year. While it was in Salento that Golden goose acquired the ownership of its manufacturing partner Italian fashion team last October. Regarding the Campania region, it is affected both by a change of merchandise and by rumors of acquisitions and the opening of the new footwear manufacturing hubs by luxury giants. Among these, Louis Vuitton is reportedly opening its own facilities in the districts of Carinaro, in the province of Caserta, where, among other things, the De Cristofaro group inaugurated a maxi sneakers factory in recent years (see MFF of November 27, 2015).

«We hear rumors in the region of funds interested in buying some shoe factories, and on the style front I see a reversal from a sneaker products towards a more formal and luxury shoe, both for men and women», Pasquale Della Pia, councilor of Assocalzaturifici and candidate to the association’s presidency, explained to MFF. «On the one hand, the large investments of luxury groups such as Lvmh, which are opening their own factories, give luster to the sector, but on the other, we are a little worried about the fate of smaller realities with their own brand, given that today’s interest has shifted from companies with a brand in their portfolio to those that are purely productive», he added. In Tuscany, in the province of Pistoia, an area with a slight prevalence of men’s product today, the sector is returning to pre-Covid-19 levels due to «the great business opportunity offered by the region, with the Monsummano Terme area seeing the presence of all companies specializing in the many phases of footwear production», Rodolfo Checcucci, coordinator of leather and footwear Section of Confindustria Toscana Nord (Prato, Pistoia, and Lucca), explained. The entrepreneur, who is active with the Tailor made international srl shoe factory, then spoke about the future with a scenario that sees two main strands. «On one hand, there is the interest of industrial groups in the companies, and on the other there are even some companies, which entered the perimeter of investors in the past, who have gone back and decided to continue on their own».

In December 2020, MFF had anticipated the purchase of the Broma shoe factory, located in Tuscany, by Gruppo manifatture italiane – Gmi. The factory joined three other companies in the sector in the region such as River, Energy, and Claudia, with the aim of creating a hub of Italian excellence in the production of luxury and formal shoes. Now, according to the rumors, the same cluster is looking at new acquisitions. The gruppo Florence is also active in Tuscany through its control of the Taccetti shoe factory. «There is no evidence at the moment in the area of the willingness of some luxury giants to set up new footwear factories as happens with leather goods (considering the cases in Florence of Balenciaga in Cerreto Guidi, Louis Vuitton and Tod’s in Sieci, and Fendi in Bagno a Ripoli, just to give some examples, ed.)». In conclusion, footwear could represent the key product for the next operations in the luxury sector as most of the groups come from other worlds, mainly leather goods and clothing, and direct investments are the only way to develop long-term projects with high degree of specialization. In turn, these investments cannot disregard the districts where the entire system is present, from materials to technical assistance and training schools. (all rights reserved)