Holding Industriale Invests in Valmor
● The acquisition of a 50 percent stake will allow the holding to enter the key shoe segment and to diversify.
MILAN — Preserving and investing in Italy's manufacturing pipeline continues to be a key M&A element as the year winds down with yet another transaction that sees Holding Industriale (Hind) taking a 50 percent stake in footwear specialist Valmor Srl through its controlled firm Holding Moda.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The agreement allows the holding, which invests in small and medium sized companies representative of the Made in Italy production, to enter the footwear segment and further diversify its portfolio.
Valmor is based in Civitanova Marche, in one of Italy's main shoe production hubs, and has manufactured sneakers for international luxury brands for years.
With Valmor, Holding Moda now counts seven investments in the fashion sector, including jersey company Uno Maglia; leather clothing Alex & Co.; apparel firm
RBS; women's clothing brand Albachiara; leather goods firm GAB, and denim company Project Officina Creativa.
Claudio Rovere, founder and chairman of Hind and of Holding Moda, underscored the “ongoing growth prospects of the footwear sector, increasingly strategically important for main luxury companies.”
Expanding with Valmor will allow to increase the group's offer and to “preside every luxury fashion segment with seven manufacturing excellences, remaining loyal to the values of quality and craftsmanship typical of Made in Italy.”
This is the third M&A operation finalized in the year and “a milestone” for Holding Moda, as well as “a new starting point for an industrial project marked by a long-term horizon and a sustainable and virtuous growth path,” concluded Rovere.
Holding Moda is expected to close 2021 with consolidated revenues of more than 120 million euros, leveraging 400 specialized employees in the Tuscany, Veneto and Marche regions.
Valmor was founded in the ‘60s by the father-in-law and the father of the current owners, Mauro Finocchi and Fiorella Torresi, respectively, firmly opposed to delocalizing its production.
Over the years, it eased away from manufacturing its own private label and specialized in the creation of sneakers for some of the most renowned luxury brands, investing in technology and artisans. While the names of the brands are kept under wraps, it is understood Valmor also works with the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group.
Valmor today produces more than 1,200 shoes per day, assembled by more than 100 employees, at the 43,200-square-foot plant in Civitanova. Valmor expects to close 2021 with sales of around 30 million euros and a production of more than 200,000 pairs of shoes, besting 2019 figures.
In line with Holding Moda's strategy of continuity, Finocchi and Torresi will continue to develop the company, flanked by Giulio Guasco, chief executive officer of Holding Moda.
In a joint statement, Finocchi and
Torresi said they shared “the principles and industrial vision” of Holding Moda's project, where Italian production takes center stage.
The M&A scene has seen brisk activity in the country, where, for example, over the past year Gruppo Florence, spearheaded by former Bulgari and LVMH executive Francesco Trapani, has also been expanding its Made in Italy portfolio of high-end manufacturing companies with the goal of developing a platform to supply high-quality Made in Italy products to major luxury fashion brands.
Last June, as a sign of an increased effort to protect the country's unique supply chain, the Ermenegildo Zegna Group and Prada joined forces to acquire a majority stake in cashmere specialist Filati Biagioli Modesto SpA.
Silk specialists Ratti Group and Mantero Seta, both located in the textile district of Como, earlier this year also joined forces to each acquire a 20 percent interest in Foto Azzurra, which specializes in the production of silk-screen printing supports.