MILAN — Speculation over the future of Trussardi has been mounting in Milan. The family-owned house has been for years the target of merger-and-acquisition rumors. Most recently, management company Quattro R SGR SpA, incorporated in 2016, has been indicated as a potential suitor. Quattro R manages a fund of more than 700 million euros and, according to its web site, it “targets Italian companies with solid business fundamentals despite temporary financial distress.” The fund, which includes Cassa Depositi e Prestiti controlled by the Minister of Economy and Finance, is headed by chairman Andrea Morante. Morante has a longstanding experience as an investment banker and in fashion, and he is chairman of Sergio Rossi as well as a former chief executive officer of Pomellato.
Trussardi and Quattro R had no comment on the rumors.
The Trussardi Group reported sales of 154 million euros in 2017 and, in March, a group of six banks subscribed a financing operation for a total value of 51.5 million euros. On top of this, the Trussardi family stipulated a capital increase of 5 million euros.
The company has been focusing on the signature line and the Trussardi Jeans collection, simplifying the product offer and increasingly focusing on accessories, which in 2018 will account for 40 percent of business.
Trussardi has created a venture with Yagi Tsusho Ltd. for the distribution of Trussardi and Trussardi Jeans in Japan. The first step involved the launch in August on e-commerce platform. A first flagship in Tokyo will open in November.
In April, Gaia Trussardi stepped down from the role of creative director at the Trussardi company. She had joined the family’s business in 2011 as creative director of the Tru Trussardi younger brand. In March 2013, she succeeded Umit Benan Sahin at the helm of the Trussardi main line, debuting with a leather-centered men’s collection for the spring 2014 collection.
A successor hasn’t been named yet, and Trussardi did not appear on the Milan Fashion Week calendar last month.
Gaia Trussardi is the third of the four children of Maria Luisa Gavazzeni and the late Nicola Trussardi, who died in a car accident in 1999. In 2003, their second-born child Francesco also died in a car crash at age 29. The company was founded in 1911 by Nicola’s grandfather Dante Trussardi.
Gaia is the second member of the fourth generation of the family to leave the company. In 2016, her elder sister Beatrice sold her 25 percent stake to her brother Tomaso, who is ceo of the Trussardi Group, to Gaia and their mother Maria Luisa, the group’s president.
Beatrice Trussardi still manages the family’s real estate business, as well as the artistic Nicola Trussardi Foundation.