Prada announces its entry on the Milan stock exchange

While Tod's has announced its departure from Piazza Affari, a new major company has just announced its arrival on the Milanese financial market. It is Prada, the iconic Italian label that started its financial adventure on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2011.

In order to obtain a valuation of one billion dollars for its IPO in Milan, scheduled for next year, Prada will work side by side with Goldman Sachs. If the deal goes ahead as planned, Prada will be dual-listed in Milan and Hong Kong, an unprecedented situation that requires extensive preparations.

Being present in Piazza Affari means for the Italian brand a widening of the pool of investors, as many international investment funds can only operate with European or American shares. The operation provides for an injection of new shares into the market; the shareholder package held at 80% by the couple formed by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, at the head of the Italian label, should not be reduced.

The choice of Hong Kong in 2011 was due to the importance that the Asian market still represents for the brand today. Founded in Italy in 1913, Prada is one of the flagships of the made in Italy and the transalpine luxury world. For the first half of this year, the brand recorded a turnover of 1.9 billion euros, 2% more than for the same period in 2021, and corresponding net profits of 188 million euros.

Last year, the Italian luxury group convened a general meeting at the end of May, which welcomed Lorenzo Bertelli, son of the Prada-Bertelli couple and known for his success in the world of car rallying, as a new member of its board. Lorenzo is the eldest son of Miuccia Prada. Since 2015 he was already on the board of Prada Holding, the financial group that controls 80% of the fashion company.

2021 was also the year in which Paolo Zannoni, an international consultant for Goldman Sachs and already chairman of the Italian restaurant company Autogrill, was appointed chairman of the luxury group. According to the ranking of the magazine Milano Finanza dedicated to the financial markets, the Prada family is the second largest shareholder wealth in Italy: an estimated 11.5 billion euros, after the 28 billion in shares held by the DelVecchio family, owner of the Luxottica group.