Rumours intensify about a possible sale of the eyewear manufacturer

Marcolin is attracting a lot of interest. According to reports circulating on the market, a number of suitors are interested in buying the Italian eyewear manufacturer, while the French investment fund Pai Partners, which has held a majority stake in the company since 2012, is reportedly considering pulling out. Its main competitors are also said to be in the running.

Last October, sources close to the matter revealed to Bloomberg that the investment fund had given Goldman Sachs a mandate to assess potential interest in the sale of the eyewear manufacturer, which could value the group at €1.35 billion. Pai Partners invested in Marcolin twelve years ago, initially with a 78% stake, rising to 83% in December 2019.

As it happens, the eyewear group has been making a series of announcements and transactions for some time now. The press release issued on Monday, March 18 on the inauguration of a prestigious new showroom in New York, following the one in Paris in November, bears witness to this. The eyewear manufacturer has also renewed several licensing agreements in recent months with brands such as Skechers, GCDS, Zegna, Max&Co and Pucci. In February, it announced the launch of Louboutin’s eyewear line, while at the end of 2023, it bought Ic! Berlin.

The company, based in Longarone, in the eyewear district of north-east Italy, where it employs nearly a thousand people, is forecasting sales of €547.4 million in 2022, up 20% on 2021, and gross operating profit of €52.1 million.

Present in 125 countries, its portfolio of licences includes a number of prestigious brands, including Adidas Originals and Adidas Sport, Bally, Guess, Harley Davidson, Max Mara, Moncler, Timberland, Tod’s and Tom Ford, whose eyewear collections it has managed since 2005. In 2022, the eyewear manufacturer has signed a perpetual licensing agreement with the brand’s new owner, Estée Lauder. This is of particular interest to potential buyers.

Starting with the luxury group Kering, which was snapped up by Tom Ford two years ago by the American cosmetics giant. Its subsidiary Kering Eyewear is said to be particularly interested in licensing the American luxury brand. The names that have been circulating for some weeks now also include the major eyewear groups.

Italy’s Safilo and the US firm Marchon are said to be in the running, as is Franco-Italian EssilorLuxottica, which may have the resources to consider such a deal, but seems to be focusing more on a strategy of vertical integration. According to local newspaper Nordest Economia, Hong Kong-based fund Fountain Vest is also interested, as is Italian eyewear manufacturer De Rigo, cited by some sources, although Marcolin’s size and value appear to be beyond its reach.

Only Thelios does not appear to be interested in Marcolin. LVMH and the Italian eyewear manufacturer have already had a close relationship, having set up the joint venture that created the luxury group’s specialist eyewear division in 2017, only to part company four years later. In December 2021, Marcolin sold its 49% stake in Thélios to LVMH.