Italy Commercial Bank Announces Sale Of Furla Group Equity Of Light Luxury Leather Goods Manufacturer

Italy commercial bank Tamburi Investment Partners (hereinafter referred to as TIP) announced that it has reached an agreement with the Italy fabric supplier Bloom that it will sell shares of Furla Group owned by Italy light luxury leather goods manufacturer at the price of 35 million euros. Bloom is also the controlling shareholder of Furla group.

After the transaction is completed, TIP President Giovanni Tamburi and chief executive Alessandra Gritti will continue to be directors of Furla group.

　　 In May 2016, the Furla group reached an investment agreement with TIP: as the preparation before IPO (initial public offering), Furla first issued convertible bonds to expand its capital, while TIP promised to buy convertible bonds with a total of 15 million euros, and add another 15 million euros in the final listing. When Furla finally carries out IPO, these bonds will automatically be converted into shares. In addition, TIP will have the right to subscribe for additional shares in IPO.

At that time, the goal of both sides was to allow Furla to be listed from 2017 to 2018. In December 2017, Giovanni Tamburi interviewed Italy fashion media MF Fashion, saying: "Furla listing is just around the corner, but we will not sell Furla shares in the short term, because TIP has plenty of funds at the moment, and there is no plan to sell stock cash."

But in June not long ago, Giovanna Furlanetto, the president of Furla group, publicly disclosed the decision to abandon the listing in an interview with the media. She said: "for the listing, our hearts have no waves, because we are very confident about the current state of the group. Furla can fully finance itself, and many banks are willing to provide us with "zero cost". Therefore, we do not think that it is time to take further steps to "complicate financing matters".

In 2018, Furla group's global sales increased by 2.8% to 513 million euros, up 5.2% at a constant exchange rate. From 2010 to 2014, the annual growth rate of Furla group's global sales has remained above 15%, and the annual growth rates of 2015, 2016 and 2017 have reached 30%, 24% and 20% respectively.

In March 2018, in order to optimize the supply chain and increase production capacity, Furla group also announced the acquisition of Italy leather goods manufacturer Effeuno full equity.

About TIP

TIP, founded in 2000 by Giovanni Tamburi, is a Italy investment company focused on investing in small and medium enterprises. Its total business volume is about 18 billion euros. The portfolio also includes Italy luxury feather down Moncler, Germany fashion group Hugo Boss, Italy high-end food market Eataly and France high-end furniture brand Roche Bobois.