The Prada Group has announced that it has purchased Milan fashion rival Versace in a €1.25 billion deal.
The move is expected to relaunch Versace’s fortunes after average post-pandemic performance as part of US luxury group Capri Holdings.
Prada said in a one-line statement that the acquisition had been completed after receiving all regulatory clearances.
Prada heir Lorenzo Bertelli will steer Versace’s next phase as executive chairman, in addition to his roles as group marketing director and sustainability chief.
The son of co-creative director, Miuccia Prada, and long-time Prada Group chairman Patrizio Bertelli has said he does not expect to make any swift executive changes at Versace.
But Mr Bertelli has said that the company, which places among the top 10 most recognised brands in the world, has been underperforming in the market for a long time.
Prada has underlined that the 47-year-old Versace brand offered “significant untapped growth potential”.
Versace has been in the midst of a creative relaunch under a new designer, Dario Vitale, who previewed his first collection during Milan Fashion Week in September.
He was previously head of design at Miu Miu, but his move to Versace was unrelated to the Prada deal, executives have said.
Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, paid 2 billion dollars (€1.72bn) for Versace in 2018 but had been struggling to position Versace’s bold profile in the recent era of “quiet luxury″.
Versace represented 20 per cent of Capri Holdings 2024 revenue of €5.2 billion.
An analyst presentation for the Prada deal said that Versace would represent 13 per cent of the Prada Group’s pro-forma revenues, with Miu Miu coming in at 22 per cent and Prada at 64 per cent. The Prada Group, which also includes Church’s footwear, reported a 17 per cent boost in revenues to €5.4 billion last year.
The Prada Group has already begun preparations to incorporate Versace into its Italian manufacturing system, a point of pride for the group.
“Making a bag for one brand or another, the know-how is the same,″ Mr Bertelli told reporters last week at the group’s Scandici leather goods factory, which already makes bags for the Prada and Miu Miu brands and will soon add Versace.
The Prada Group has invested €60 million in its supply chain this year, including a new leather goods factory near Siena, a new knitwear factory near Perugia as well as increasing production at its Church’s footwear factory in Britain and expanding another Tuscan factory.
Prada’s efforts include an academy that has trained 570 new artisans over the last 25 years in an in-house training academy operating in the Tuscany, Marche, Veneto and Umbria regions.
Last year, Prada hired 70 per cent of the 120 artisans who trained in the academy. The number of trainees rose by 28 per cent to 152 this year.
