Exor takes 24% stake in Louboutin
Exor, the Amsterdam-based holding company controlled by the Agnelli family, has announced an investment of €541 million in Christian Louboutin. Exor will, therefore, become a 24% shareholder in the high-end footwear brand and will nominate two of the seven members of the company’s board of directors.
It said it wanted to help accelerate the next phase of the company’s development. It said it saw “significant scope” for developing the Louboutin brand’s presence, notably via further geographic expansion, particularly in China.
Future developments will also include an expansion of Louboutin’s existing digital and e-commerce platforms.
At the time of the announcement, Exor chief executive, John Elkann, said: “I have admired Christian’s talent in creating one of the world’s great, independent global luxury brands. Christian Louboutin’s extraordinary creativity, energy and unique vision are precisely the qualities needed to build a great company.”
For his part, the brand’s founder, Christian Louboutin, said he looked forward to working with the Exor team for decades to come. He paid particular tribute to Mr Elkann, the grandson of industrialist Gianni Agnelli, for taking “great care to understand the human history of our maison”.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.
