Ermenegildo Zegna to go public in SPAC deal worth US$3.2b

[PARIS] Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna is listing its shares through a deal with a blank-cheque company that values the Italian fashion house at US$3.2 billion.

Zegna intends to raise US$880 million by combining with Investindustrial Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company whose chairman is Sergio Ermotti, former chief executive officer of UBS Group AG.

The menswear designer is ending more than a century of being a private company as luxury-goods makers keeps consolidating.

Earlier this year, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE completed the acquisition of Tiffany & Co., the largest deal yet in the industry.

L Catterton, a private equity firm backed by LVMH, agreed to buy a majority stake in Italian fashion house Etro SpA on Sunday.

Firmly established in the US, SPACs have been gaining recent traction with companies and investors in Europe.

Avanti Acquisition Corp, a SPAC backed by French entrepreneur Ian Gallienne and Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, last year raised US$600 million to focus on European targets.

Last week, a SPAC backed by the luxury billionnaire Pinault family raised 275 million euros (S$441 million) to focus on entertainment companies in Europe.

BLOOMBERG