Giorgio Armani’s Dual Wills Chart Path for Potential Stake Sale, IPO

MILAN – Giorgio Armani left not one but two wills, one dated March 15 and the other April 5.

They were made public on Friday morning on several media outlets. Accordingly, Armani, who died on Sept. 4 at 91, decided that his namesake foundation will manage the fashion group.

After 12 months from the opening of the will and within 18 months at the most, an initial 15 percent of the his namesake company could be sold to either LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, EssilorLuxottica or L’Oréal.

All three companies have over the years been rumored to have made ouvertures to Armani, but no deal ever materialized.

Pantaleo Dell’Orco, known as Leo, Armani’s longtime partner in charge of the men’s division, has a key role with 40 percent of voting shares.

Armani does not rule out other companies besides LVMH, EssilorLuxottica or L’Oréal as potential buyers, as long as they are operating in the world of fashion and luxury and of equal standing.

Between the third and fifth year, the plan is to sell a stake of between 30 and 54.9 percent to the same buyer of the first group of shares.

In the case that LVMH, EssilorLuxottica or L’Oréal are not willing to proceed with the acquisition, in five years and within eight, Armani stated that the a public listing should be considered, in Italy as a priority but also on other markets of equal standing. Even following the potential listing, the foundation would keep a 30.1 percent stake of the group to ensure its control.

Dell’Orco is part of the tight-knit circle of friends and collaborators that Armani called family. The designer’s closest relatives include his nephew Andrea Camerana, the son of Armani’s sister Rosanna, who also works in the company, and Roberta Armani, who is the daughter of the designer’s late brother, Sergio, and who has been in charge of the group’s celebrity relations for years, often acting as Armani’s deputy on social occasions around the world as the face of the company. Her sister Silvana is part of the design team.

The designer revealed details about the future of his company for the first time in 2016, confirming he had established the long-rumored Giorgio Armani Foundation, which, while aiming to fund social projects, also ensured that his fashion group would live on.

Never leaving anything to chance, Armani carefully detailed the foundation’s guidelines in his will.
The foundation is expected to ensure that the activities will be managed “ethically, with moral integrity and correctly.”

The priority is to continue to develop the Armani name at a global level and abide by a  “careful diversification strategy and segmentation of the different company brands maintaining consistency in design, image, product, and communication.” It is expected to stay true to “an essential modern, elegant and not ostentatious style with attention to detail and fit,” paying “attention to innovation, product excellence, quality and research.” The approach to acquisitions must be “cautious” and “aimed solely at the development of competences that do not exist internally from a market point of view, by product or channel.” The level of investments should be maintained adequate “for the continuous development of the brands,” and financial management should be “ balanced” with limited access to debt. Finally, profits should be adequately reinvested in the company with the goal to support cash generation in time.

“I decided to create the Giorgio Armani Foundation in order to implement projects of public and social interest,” Armani said back in 2016. “The foundation will also safeguard the governance assets of the Armani Group and ensure that these assets are kept stable over time, in respect of and consistent with some principles that are particularly important to me and that have always inspired my activities as a designer and an entrepreneur.”

While vocal over the years about his aversion to sell, take on a business partner or publicly list the company, rumors about Armani contemplating forming a foundation first emerged in 2012. The foundation reflected a key priority for Armani — independence, which he sought to maintain over the years, especially since 2000 when rumors about a possible sale to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton or the-then Gucci Group and L’Oréal swirled around the fashion house.