The Moncler Group shuffles the deck to go public

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 19, 2013

The Moncler brand’s long-time cherished IPO is back in play. The Italian group owns the high-end Moncler down jacket label, which is very active on an international scale with a large network of single-brand stores. The group’s portfolio also holds Henry Cotton’s, Marina Yachting, Coast Weber&Ahaus and the 18CRR81 Cerruti license, mainly sold in Italian multibrand stores.

The goal is to reorganize the group structure by separating its two assets into two separate companies, Moncler and Sportswear Industries so that they can each develop independently.

This project was approved at the last meeting of the group held a few weeks ago. According to reports on the meeting cited by the Milan daily Il Corriere della Sera, the idea is “to completely separate the two very different operations from each other ... in view of a possible flotation of Moncler on one of the regulated stock exchanges.”

The company’s IPO has already been announced several times in recent years, especially in 2011. But at the time, group owner Remo Ruffini opted for a different route by making a partial sale to an investment fund, the French group Eurazeo. The buy-out group purchased a 45% share, then dropped down to 32.3%, still retaining 50% of board voting rights in the Italian company.

However, Remo Ruffini has never given up on his IPO project, as he reaffirmed last November: “The proposed IPO is still valid, but we are not working on it right now because we have other priorities.”

Things now seem to be clearer. According to financial sources cited by the Corriere della Sera, the flotation could happen in the next 12 months, in November or next February. At the same time, the company is also making moves to reorganize its sportswear division. The four brands — Henry Cotton's, Marina Yachting, Coast Weber&Ahaus and 18CRR81 Cerruti — have been grouped together to make them more attractive. This division has created an autonomous company to be sold off and negotiations with different buyers are already taking place.