Luxury brands stalk Bond’s outfitter
Suitors are stalking luxury Italian brand Brioni – known for dressing James Bond 007 and presidents including Barack Obama.
Zegna, an Italian luxury brand, PPR, one of France’s biggest luxury houses, and Eurazeo, the French private-equity firm, are all known to have had recent talks with the Bond suit-maker about a potential offer. If the company is sold, it could fetch up to €350m (£300m).Brioni declined to comment.
Brioni, a Rome-based family-owned group, still manufactures its entire range in Italy. Brioni suits start at $4,000 and can cost $47,000. The business was founded in 1945 and now has boutiques in major cities across the world. It reported an operating profit of €32m for 2010 and is expanding into casualwear.
Luxury goods groups, which have until recently remained resilient to the downturn, have started to see their share prices fall due to doubts over potential growth in emerging markets such as China. The UK label Burberry saw a 12.5 per cent fall on its share price this week.
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