Missoni reportedly appoints financial advisor amid sale speculation

Italian luxury house Missoni is understood to have appointed a financial advisor amid speculation that the family-owned company is mulling a possible sale.

The company is believed to have hired Rothschild to take on the role according to sources for Reuters, one of whom added that the Missoni family was open to considering all options including a full divestment of its stake.

The founding family owns 59 percent of the brand while the other 41 percent is held by Italian investment firm FSI, which snapped up the stake in a 70 million euro cash injection in 2018.

Sources noted that no formal sales process has gone ahead yet, and no decision had been made on whether a sale would officially take place, despite preliminary work being carried out.

Rumours of a possible sale came into the picture following a number of unsolicited interest in the purchase of Missoni earlier this year from larger luxury groups.

Evidence of the brand’s interest in merging into such a conglomerate became evident during an online event led by Missoni’s chief executive officer Livio Proli in October.

During the event, Proli said that “whether the Missoni brand continues alone or with the resources and synergies of a large group, it must remain very focused on its specific craftsmanship”.