Luxury Italian footwear brand to sell 10% stake
Top executives at Italian luxury leather maker Tod’s are selling up to 10% of the business ahead of a move into the Milan stock exchange, the company announced on 14 December 2010.
Chairman and chief executive, Diego Della Valle, will sell up to 2.46 million shares in the private placement. His brother, vice chairman Andrea Della Valle, will sell as many as 600,000 shares, Tod’s said in a statement. The placement is aimed at institutional investors.
“The deal responds to the demand increasingly expressed by the market for boosting the stock’s liquidity,” Tod's said. The importance of liquidity increases in light of Tod’s entry into Milan’s stock exchange, it added.
Tod’s is the world’s fourth-biggest shoemaker by market value. Its brands include Fay, Hogan and Roger Vivier.
Diego Della Valle owns 64.8% of the company and Andrea Della Valle owns 2.8%, according to securities regulator Consob. The brothers have agreed to a 180-day lock-up for their shares in light of the deal, the statement said. Diego Della Valle will keep control of Tod’s after the operation.
