Italian luxury fashion group Ermenegildo Zegna has agreed to go public this year by combining with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the United States, giving the business an enterprise value of $3.2 billion, the companies said on Monday.
The family-owned fashion brand will raise $880 million by combining with a U.S. SPAC launched by European private equity group Investindustrial and chaired by Sergio Ermotti, former chief executive at Swiss bank UBS.
Under the terms of the deal, which was first reported by the Financial Times and Corriere della Sera, Zegna will sell a portion of their holdings and retain 62% of the combined company, which is being given an equity value of $2.5 billion.
Zegna will merge with the New York-listed entity Investindustrial Acquisition Corp. The investment in the Italian fashion brand will give Investindustrial an 11% stake in the company.
“We could have remained independent for another 100 years, but the moment is appropriate and the world has changed a lot and luxury has become very challenging,” Chief Executive Gildo Zegna told the FT.
