Tod’s founding family to launch bid to delist shoe maker

MILAN (Reuters) -The founding family and largest shareholder in Italian luxury shoe maker Tod’s is set to launch a takeover offer to delist the company from the Milan stock exchange, the holding company of the Della Valle brothers said on Wednesday.

Diego Della Valle, who also acts as chief executive and chairman at the company, and his brother, Andrea Della Valle, are set to launch a takeover bid at 40 euros per share. The stock closed at 33.42 euros on Tuesday.

Tod’s, famous for its Gommino loafers, launched a strategy in late 2017 to revamp its brands and lure younger consumers, but the coronavirus pandemic hampered its efforts.

Group sales bounced back by almost 40% last year, increasing after five years of consecutive declines.

“The objective is to enhance the value of the group’s individual brands, giving them strong individual visibility and operational autonomy,” they said in the statement.

“Through this strategy, we intend to strengthen the positioning of the brands at the top of the quality and luxury market, with a high level of desirability.”

The Della Valle brothers, who directly and indirectly hold a 64.45% stake in Tod’s, will launch the bid on 25.55% of the company’s shares through their joint holding company DeVa Finance S.r.l.

The remaining 10% is held by Delphine SAS, part of the LVMH Group .

Delphine has struck an accord with the brothers, under which it will not tender its stake in the offer and will remain a shareholder in the delisted group with the same holding.

BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Bank and Deutsche are acting as financial advisers and BonelliErede as legal consultant.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Jason Neely)