(ANSA) - Milan, September 21 - Prada is in no rush to go public, sources at the Milan-based luxury fashion house said on Friday in response to press reports that it would launch an initial public offer ING (IPO) next year.
According to the reports, Prada was considering Italian banks Intesa SanPaolo and Unicredit as possible advisors for an IPO for between 30% and 40% of the group.
CEO Patrizio Bertelli said this spring that Prada may go public and in July the group issued a statement to clarify that while an IPO was under consideration, the group was not up for sale.
Prada has shelved plans to go public three times in 2001 and 2002 because the situations in either the stock market or THE luxury fashion sector were poor.
The Bloomberg news agency on Thursday quoted bank sources who said Prada wanted to sell its shares sometime in the first half of next year in order to reduce its debt and finance its expansion. ¡¡
Sources at Prada said there was no rush to launch the IPO because the group's financial situation has improved and business was good.
Two years ago Prada restructured 700 euros of debt and since then has reduced its debt through the sale of its loss-making labels Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, together with a 45% stake in the quality British shoemaker Church's.
Prada produces clothes and accessories under its own name as well as the trendy Miu Miu label.
Intesa and Unicredit were indicated as possible advisors for an IPO because Intesa holds a 5% stake in Prada while Unicredit not only was part of the pool of banks which restructured the group's debt, but also granted Prada a 200-million-euro medium-term loan.
Prada's financial woes began when it went on a buying spree in the 1990s and failed to turn around loss-making acquisitions which, aside from Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, included a stake in the Rome-based fashion house Fendi.
