Christian Louboutin is selling a 24 per cent stake to an investment firm controlled by Italy’s Agnelli family, in a deal that values the French company at 2.3 billion euros, equivalent to $2.73 billion, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Exor NV, controlled by the heirs of industrial magnate Gianni Agnelli, will pay €541 […]
Christian Louboutin is selling a 24 per cent stake to an investment firm controlled by Italy’s Agnelli family, in a deal that values the French company at 2.3 billion euros, equivalent to $2.73 billion, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Exor NV, controlled by the heirs of industrial magnate Gianni Agnelli, will pay €541 million for the stake in Christian Louboutin, the two companies said Monday. The brand is based in Paris and has 150 boutiques around the world.
“The partnership is to accelerate the next phase of Louboutin’s development,” the joint statement said, adding that Exor was a perfect fit for Louboutin “at a moment when the brand is poised to capture significant new opportunities”. Exor will nominate two of the seven members of Louboutin’s board of directors, alongside the firm’s founders, the groups said.
“Exor is a company with a steady long-term focus and a strong entrepreneurial culture which, with my partner Bruno, we are also very attached to and where we fully recognize ourselves. It was important for me, and for the members of our company, that in order to write a new page in the history of our Maison, the partner with whom we would associate should respect our values, be open-minded and should have an ambitious, young dynamism. And so it became clear that Exor would be the ideal partner with whom we would continue the Louboutin adventure, which began just 30 years ago. We are, as is my entire team, very happy with this union and we would like to thank John and the Exor team for having taken such great care to understand the human history of our Maison in order to be able to accompany us well for the decades to come”, commenting Christian Louboutin’s Founder.
Founded in 1991, the shoe brand is best known for producing shoes with soles painted in lipstick red and for attracting high-profile customers including film stars, musicians and royals. Exor, which is a top investor in high-end carmaker Ferrari, in December, invested around 80 million euros to become the largest shareholder of Chinese luxury group Shang Xia, which had been co-founded by French group Hermes.
