CAVALLI BACK?

The billionaire owner of Italian fashion house Cavalli is planning a lavish new tower in Dubai to showcase the brand’s return after a brush with bankruptcy and nearly two years of sluggish sales during the pandemic.

Hussain Sajwani, founder and chairman of Dubaibased Damac Properties, told Bloomberg that he may even double down on the planned $545 million (Dh2b) structure by building a similar one in Miami.

The property tycoon bought the fashion company, which was founded in the 1970s by designer Roberto Cavalli, through his DICO private investment company in 2019. Roberto Cavalli SpA earlier that year had moved to shutter its US stores and entered negotiations with creditors to stave off bankruptcy.

“I am committed to rebuilding the Cavalli brand, to relaunching it on key markets,” Sajwani said in the interview. That will mean investing in new locations around the world, he said, without disclosing precise figures. “We are ready to invest as much as needed.”