What to Watch: Let’s Make a Deal: Italy’s M&A Market Is Thriving

After a busy first half, Italian investors are busy finalizing deals in the designer apparel and eyewear sectors.The fall could see Italian private equity firm Style Capital take a stake in MSGM, the fashion contemporary label founded by Massimo Giorgetti in 2009. MSGM is controlled by Giorgetti, and by Italy’s Gruppo Paoloni, which holds a 50 percent stake in the brand.It would be the second investment for Style Capital, which in April acquired a 51 percent stake in women’s wear brand Forte_Forte. The fund manages an investment portfolio valued at 100 million euros.Later in the year, the proposed merger between Italy’s giant eyewear firm Luxottica Group and France’s Essilor Group, a leader in ophthalmic optics, is set to close.Luxottica and Essilor, the leading maker of lenses worldwide, have agreed to a 46 billion euros merger to form an eyewear powerhouse with annual sales of more than 15 billion euros in more than 150 countries. The agreement was first revealed in January and is likely to transform the sector’s global landscape and spark further technological innovation and deals.The Italian group produces eyewear under license for names including the Giorgio Armani Group, Bulgari, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, Prada and Versace and also has a number of owned brands, such as Ray-Ban, Oakley and Persol.Another eyewear deal is set to take shape in 2018: As part of a new joint venture between LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Marcolin, the latter will design and manufacture eyewear for Céline and Louis Vuitton, with the goal of “becoming, in the future, the preferred partner” of the LVMH group in the eyewear business.LVMH will control 51 percent of the joint venture and Marcolin the remaining 49 percent. LVMH will take a 10 percent stake in Marcolin, which produces and distributes eyewear collections for brands including Tom Ford, Tod’s, Balenciaga, Moncler and Dsquared2, among others.