The Wertheimer family, a Chanel shareholder, wants to buy Prada. The indiscretion launched by Il Giornale has turbocharged the Italian luxury giant's stocks listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which closed with sharp rises. According to the Milan newspaper, Miuccia Prada and her son Lorenzo Bertelli met before Christmas with representatives of the British fund Mousse Partners linked to the Wertheimer family. The offer would be $6 billion. According to sources close to the dossier, however, the deal would be unfeasible because Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli have never been sellers. Moreover, the values quoted would not even be acceptable. "We are talking about an offer of $6 billion, half of the group's capitalization, today $12.99 billion. We infer that the figure thus refers to a minority stake in the family holding company or a hypothetical delisting with the support of the same private equity," the investment bank Equita points out. In addition, the analysts recall that "the dynasty has always seemed disinclined to sell shares in the capital". The indiscretion came just on the heels of Prada's men's collection fashion show, one of the highlights of the group's calendar, which on March 7 will unveil its 2023 figures, numbers that are up sharply from the $4.2 billion a year earlier. Twenty percent of the group is the free float on the market, with funds holding varying shares: Invesco with 2.93 percent, Schroder with 1.45 percent and Vanguard (0.5 percent).
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