Also Tod’s said goodbye to Piazza Affari, confirming the trend that has been underway for some years to choose other paths as an alternative to the stock exchange to grow Made in Italy abroad. Another guru of Italian luxury, following the escape of Leonardo del Vecchio’s Luxottica, now listed only in Paris in aggregation with Essilor, and after the exit of Bulgari way back in 2011.
But what is happening in Piazza Affari? Delistings chase each other on the Milan Stock Exchange, keeping pace with the IPOs which are always numerous, but often concern SMEs eager to gain visibility thanks to the listing.
The takeover bid for Tod’s
The takeover bid volunteer promoted by Crown Bidcoinvestment vehicle of L-Catterton, on Tod’s closed with acceptances equal to almost 97% of those subject to the offer, representing 17.7% of the share capital. The offeror, having exceeded the 95% threshold, therefore exercised the right to repurchase the remaining 3% – just over 1 million shares – at the tender offer price of 43 euros per share, for a total of 44,323,325 euros.
With the transfer of the remaining shares in favor of the offeror the delisting has been completed of the stock, which was delisted on the Euronext Milan market.
Who is L Catterton
L Catterton is an originally American private equity firm, founded in the late 1980s, then combined with the French fashion big LVMH (Vuitton). The original Catterton Partners fund made over 250 investments in brands across all segments of the consumer goods industry, before merging with the French entrepreneur’s holding company in 2016 Bernard Arnault and with LVMH to create L Catterton.
Della Valle: OPA is an opportunity for growth
“With the success of the takeover bid, the Tod’s group is exiting the stock exchange,” he commented Diego Della VallePresident and CEO of Tod’s, explaining “we decided to make this choice to focus on the potential development of our individual brands, making all the necessary investments in the times we deem most suitable.
“We have one great opportunity for growth and we will try to seize itoperating with a long-term vision”, underlined Della Valle again, concluding “we have decided to share this strategic decision of ours with two global partners, who have great experience in our sector: L Catterton and LVMHwith whom we shared our entry into the stock market over twenty years ago, which they will certainly be precious travel companions“.
The long list of delistings
Tod’s decision to abandon Piazza Affari is only the latest in a long series. This year alone, the decision was made by international big names like CNH Industrial and long-listed companies such as Saras, Pierrel, Softec and Renergetica. The list is also long for 2023, the year in which 26 companies exited the market, some better known as Autogrill.
But why doesn’t the escape from Piazza Affari stop? Experts argue that, with the minimum ratings achieved in recent years, it has become more convenient for the relevant shareholders to repurchase the shares on the market and continue the business growth path in other waysperhaps finding the support of private equity fundswho in most cases do not intervene in the management, but provide the capital and often consultancy structures to grow on the reference market or abroad.
What will happen with Tod’s and what has happened for many other companies, such as IMA which in 2020 decided to exit the stock exchange and at the same time enter into an agreement with the private equity fund BC Partners to accelerate its growth abroad. A clear and merciless message for Piazza Affari which, evidently, offers neither the visibility nor the results needed to achieve this objective.
