(Nov 2): Ray-Ban heir Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio proposed buying out his family members from their shared investment vehicle, in a bid to keep the EssilorLuxottica SA eyewear fortune from Czech arms billionare Michal Strnad.
Leonardo Maria outlined his proposal in a letter published in his QN newspaper on Monday. He said he had secured financial backing from an international institution he didn’t identify, and will be ready to present his project to the the seven other shareholders of Delfin Sarl on Nov 7.
“I’ve proposed the total and immediate acquisition of the stakes or other forms of acquisitions more diluted over time,” Leonardo Maria wrote.
The namesake son of EssilorLuxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio didn’t disclose any financial details. His project is backed by a €22 billion (US$24.7 billion or RM100.5 billion) loan from Citigroup Inc, Corriere della Sera reported. He is offering €3.7 billion each to the other heirs, it said.
A Citi representative declined to comment.
Strnad offered on Oct 20 to buy out Delfin at a 30% discount to its net asset value. The offer, made public last week, seeks at least 62.5% of Luxembourg-based Delfin, whose publicly disclosed stakes in listed companies were valued at about €45 billion as of Friday.
A family buyout would accomplish the twin goals of blocking Strnad’s unsolicited approach, while vaulting Leonardo Maria into the dominant position in one of Italy’s most important industrial families. Each of the Del Vecchio heirs owns a 12.5% stake in Delfin, a structure that’s impeded decisionmaking amid infighting by the family members.
The vehicle buying the stakes would have strengthened governance rules and a binding statute, Leonardo Maria wrote. He’ll be flanked by two professionals “with long managerial, legal and financial experience” with binding advice on the most important financial decisions.
Leonardo Maria has made several attempts to buy out his siblings. He proposed €10 billion to buy a combined 25% stake held by Luca and Paola Del Vecchio. The deal hit a wall after lenders lined up to finance it asked for guarantees over Delfin’s investments, which the board denied.
More recently, his offer to buy out half-brother Rocco Basilico was rejected.
Leonardo Maria, 31, has turned increasingly critical of Francesco Milleri, the chairman of Delfin and chairman and chief executive officer of EssilorLuxottica. He has suggested Milleri was distracted by Delfin’s finanial holdings and blamed him for a drop in EssilorLuxottica shares.
Aside from holding about a third of the eyewear maker, Delfin is also the largest shareholder in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, and has played a prominent role in the Italy’s ongoing banking consolidation wave.
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