\n\tUpdated at 4:16 p.m. ET Sept. 12<\/p>\n
\n\tMILAN \u2014 Now that the late designer Giorgio Armani<\/a>\u2018s wills have been released, three of the companies that have long been mooted as potential buyers of his company, and that he mentioned himself in his wills \u2014 LVMH<\/a> Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton, L\u2019Or\u00e9al and EssilorLuxottica<\/a> \u2014 have issued statements praising the brand, and potentially setting up an eventual bidding battle for one of fashion\u2019s iconic labels.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cGiorgio Armani<\/a> honored LVMH<\/a> by naming us as a potential partner for the exceptional fashion house he built,\u201d said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH. \u201cI am a great admirer of his talent. Giorgio Armani, whom I had the pleasure of knowing personally, was a true genius; the only great couturier, along with Christian Dior, who built and led a global brand in terms of both style and industry. If we were to work together in the future, LVMH would be committed to further strengthening its presence and leadership around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAsked for a comment, EssilorLuxottica<\/a> said: \u201cWe are proud of the trust that Mr. Armani has placed in our group and in our management. We will carefully evaluate, together with the board, this evolutionary prospect, which deserves thorough consideration in light of the deep ties that already unite the two groups.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tL\u2019Or\u00e9al in a statement said that \u201cfor almost 40 years, together with Mr. Armani, we have built one of the most beautiful and iconic beauty brands in the world.\u00a0We are touched and honored that Mr. Armani considered L\u2019Or\u00e9al to acquire a stake in his beautiful company. We will study, with great consideration, this opportunity building on our long-shared history.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGiorgio Armani left not one but two wills, one dated March 15 and the other April 5.<\/p>\n \n\tThey were made public on Friday morning on several media outlets. Accordingly, Armani, who died on Sept. 4 at 91,<\/a> decided that his namesake foundation will manage the fashion group.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter 12 months from the opening of the will and within 18 months at the most, an initial 15 percent of the his namesake company could be sold to either LVMH<\/a>, EssilorLuxottica or L\u2019Or\u00e9al, according to the wills.<\/p>\n \n\tArmani does not rule out other companies besides LVMH, EssilorLuxottica or L\u2019Or\u00e9al<\/a> as potential buyers, as long as they are operating in the world of fashion and luxury and of equal standing.<\/p>\n \n\tBetween the third and fifth year, the foundation and the heirs could choose to sell a stake of between 30 and 54.9 percent to the same buyer of the first group of shares, or in five years and within eight, to consider a public listing in Italy as a priority but also on other markets of equal standing. Even following the potential listing, the foundation would keep a 30.1 percent stake of the group to ensure its control.<\/p>\n \n\tPantaleo Dell\u2019Orco, known as Leo, Armani\u2019s longtime partner in charge of the men\u2019s division, has a key role with 40 percent of voting shares.<\/p>\n \n\tDell\u2019Orco is part of the tight-knit circle of friends and collaborators that Armani called family. The designer\u2019s closest relatives include his nephew Andrea Camerana, the son of Armani\u2019s sister Rosanna, who also works in the company, and Roberta Armani, who is the daughter of the designer\u2019s late brother, Sergio, and who has been in charge of the group\u2019s celebrity relations for years, often acting as Armani\u2019s deputy on social occasions around the world as the face of the company. Her sister Silvana is part of the design team.<\/p>\n \n\tMore specifically, the Giorgio Armani Foundation has 10 percent of shares and 90 percent of bare ownership of the shares. Life tenancy is assigned to Dell\u2019Orco with a 30 percent stake and 15 percent each to Camerana, Roberta, Silvana and Rosanna Armani.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAs for the governance of the foundation, Camerana takes his seat on the board succeeding Armani, with\u00a0Dell\u2019Orco and Irving Bellotti,\u00a0partner of Rothschild & Co.\u00a0Notary\u00a0Elena Terrenghi, whose studio opened the will, is now also on the board.\u00a0Roberta and Silvana Armani are also indicated as part of the Surveillance Committee to operate along Armani\u2019s guidelines.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Armani company stated it did \u201cnot consider it appropriate to comment on choices that pertain strictly to the private sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSuch details appeared in the will detailing Armani\u2019s personal properties.\u00a0It shows 75 percent of a company called\u00a0L\u2019Immobiliare Srl, comprising the real estate properties in Saint-Tropez, Antigua, and Broni and Pantelleria, Italy, is destined to his sister and 25 percent as bare ownership to Andrea Camerana and Silvana Armani.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDell\u2019Orco was left a life tenancy of the Via Borgonuovo palazzo in Milan, where the designer lived and there is a mention of a Matisse painting,\u00a0an Andy Warhol portrait of the designer and a Rayman photo.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSeparately from L\u2019Immobiliare, the bare ownership of the Saint Moritz home was left to Camerana and the life tenancy to Dell\u2019Orco, who also inherits one of the two New York apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tArmani\u2019s stake of almost 2 percent\u00a0in EssilorLuxottica goes to Dell\u2019Orco (40 percent) and to his family (60 percent).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThere is also a provision of 480,000 euros for designer Graeme Black, who worked with Armani early on in his career, in addition to shares left to executives, collaborators and friends including\u00a0Michele Morselli, Daniele Ballestrazzi, Giuseppe Marsocci, Laura Tadini and Luca Pastorelli.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe designer revealed details about the future of his company for the first time in 2016, confirming he had established the long-rumored\u00a0Giorgio Armani Foundation, which,<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>while aiming to fund social projects, also ensured that his fashion group would live on.<\/p>\n \n\tNever leaving anything to chance, Armani carefully detailed the foundation\u2019s guidelines in his will. \n\tThe priority is to continue to develop the Armani name at a global level and abide by a \u201ccareful diversification strategy and segmentation of the different company brands maintaining consistency in design, image, product and communication.\u201d It is expected to stay true to \u201can essential modern, elegant and not ostentatious style with attention to detail and fit,\u201d paying \u201cattention to innovation, product excellence, quality and research.\u201d The approach to acquisitions must be \u201ccautious\u201d and \u201caimed solely at the development of competences that do not exist internally from a market point of view, by product or channel.\u201d The level of investments should be maintained adequate \u201cfor the continuous development of the brands,\u201d and financial management should be \u201cbalanced\u201d with limited access to debt. Finally, profits should be adequately reinvested in the company with the goal to support cash generation in time.<\/p>\n \n\tLater on Friday, the executive committee of the Armani company issued a statement underscoring that \u201cit is immediately clear\u201d that the designer\u2019s \u201cintention to safeguard strategic continuity, corporate cohesion and financial stability for long-term development is confirmed at every stage, in line with what he had repeatedly shared with the press and his closest collaborators.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile \u201call short- and medium-term strategic decisions\u201d will be taken by Dell\u2019Orco and the family, supported by the foundation, the statement highlights that \u201cthese decisions were guided by Mr. Armani himself, both in terms of the brand\u2019s mission and in possible actions with implications for the group\u2019s medium- and long-term structure. In this light, the will makes reference to a stock market listing as well as the opening to a minority partner of recognized standing and genuine interest in the brand. The responsibility for decisions and management of this process will remain with Mr. Dell\u2019Orco and the family, under the guidance of the fondazione, but always within the principles and rules defined by Mr. Armani.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe foundation\u2019s first duty will be to propose the name of the new CEO.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn the coming days, with a thorough reading of the documents and the publication of the company\u2019s new Articles of Association, the remaining details of Mr. Armani\u2019s wishes will be clarified,\u201d concluded the statement. \u201cHowever, even now, we affirm, also on behalf of employees and collaborators, our commitment to supporting this path in full respect of his wishes, united by the shared goal of securing the best possible future for the company and the brand, in accordance with the principles he established.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBack in 2016, Armani explained that he decided to create the foundation \u201cin order to implement projects of public and social interest. The foundation will also safeguard the governance assets of the Armani Group and ensure that these assets are kept stable over time, in respect of and consistent with some principles that are particularly important to me and that have always inspired my activities as a designer and an entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile vocal over the years about his aversion to sell, take on a business partner or publicly list the company, rumors about Armani contemplating forming a foundation first emerged in 2012. The foundation reflected a key priority for Armani \u2014\u00a0independence, which he sought to maintain over the years, especially since 2000 when rumors about a possible sale to\u00a0LVMH Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>or the-then Gucci Group and\u00a0L\u2019Or\u00e9al<\/a>\u00a0swirled around the fashion house.<\/p>\n \n\t\u2014 With contributions from Jennifer Weil (Paris)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated at 4:16 p.m. ET Sept. 12 MILAN \u2014 Now that the late designer Giorgio Armani\u2018s wills have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,34783,54209,84128],"class_list":{"0":"post-152359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-essilorluxottica","10":"tag-giorgio-armani","11":"tag-lvmh"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The foundation is expected to ensure that the activities will be managed \u201cethically, with moral integrity and correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n