PRADA ADDS TO STABLE BY ACQUIRING GENNY
Byline: Samantha Conti
MILAN — Acquisition-hungry Prada has just swallowed another company: Genny Group. Prada said in a statement it has signed a preliminary agreement to acquire a controlling stake in the Ancona-based group that owns the Genny and Byblos brands.
As reported, Prada began negotiations with the group earlier this year and started conducting due diligence in the spring. The company did not reveal the price of the transaction or the percentage stake it now has in Genny.
A Prada spokeswoman declined further comment. Genny chairman and owner Donatella Girombelli said her decision to sell was not an easy one. “We found ourselves at a crossroads, having to choose between our personal pride and the good of the company,” said Girombelli. “We chose the second road.”
Girombelli, who inherited the company from her late husband Arnaldo and transformed it into a clothing powerhouse in the 1980s, said she and her son Leonardo would no longer work at the company. “It is only right to hand over control to those who bought the company,” she said.
Girombelli added that negotiations with Prada initially centered on the sale of Genny’s production facilities, which are among the most technologically advanced in Europe. “But then we thought about the changes the fashion industry is undergoing…and how competitive the market is becoming. Size counts nowadays.”
The Genny factories, built in the early Nineties when sales of the Byblos and Genny brands were roaring, are able to produce 150,000 units per season and boast ample storage facilities.
It is unclear what Prada will do with the Genny and Byblos brands. One source close to Prada said the plan is to transform Genny into a younger, lower-priced line that would not compete with the other clothing brands in the Prada stable: Prada, Miu Miu, Jil Sander, Fendi and Helmut Lang.
Another source said Byblos might be sold to the jeans and apparel manufacturer Sportswear International. A spokesman for that company could not be reached for comment. The Prada statement said sales at Genny Group last year were approximately $40 million.