Clessidra sells Cavalli to Dubai-based firm

Vision Investment is controlled by Emirati entrepreneur Hussain Sajwani, who also owns Dubai-based real estate development company Damac Properties.

The deal sees Vision deploy around €160m; €60m is for a capital increase and the brand's relaunch, and €100m to repay the company's creditors. The sale will become official following approval by the Milan tribunal, expected between August and September.

Despite operating in two very different sectors, Cavalli and Damac became partners in 2017, when they signed an agreement to build several "Just Cavalli" villas and for Cavalli to design the interior of five luxury hotels to be built by 2023.

Cavalli filed for the bankruptcy protection procedure known as "concordato preventivo" last April in Italy, while the company's US-based subsidiary, ArtFashion, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the US and closed down all its stores in the country, dismissing its employees. In addition, several corporate executives, including US CEO Salvatore Tramuto and creative director Paul Surridge, resigned in March.

Previous funding
Italian GP Clessidra bought a 90% stake in Cavalli in 2015 from the founder Roberto Cavalli, who retained a 10% holding. The deal valued the company at around €390m, equal to 16x its 2014 EBITDA.

Private equity firm L-GAM and Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises invested alongside Clessidra and acquired minority stakes in the business. Clessidra deployed capital from its Clessidra Capital Partners III fund, which held a final close on €607.3m in December 2016.

Clessidra mandated Rothschild to sell a minority stake in the Italian fashion house in October 2018. The sale attracted interest from Swiss fashion group Philipp Plein, Blue Skye investment fund and US brand management conglomerate Bluestar Alliance. Subsequently, Bluestar remained the only bidder with a €100m offer, according to press reports published in March 2019.

Company
Headquartered in Florence and established in 1970, Roberto Cavalli is a fashion brand that specialises in designing luxury clothing, leather goods, watches, jewellery and eyewear. In addition to its main Roberto Cavalli brand, the company also sells its products under the Just Cavalli, Cavalli Class and Roberto Cavalli Junior brands. The company generated negative EBITDA of €7.1m, negative operating profit of €33.6m and revenues of €152.4m in 2017.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Southern Europe
• Consumer
• Clessidra Capital Partners
• Italy
• Trade sale