Are luxury retailers gearing up for a little deal-making now that their clientele are returning to the stores? That’s the idea at The New York Post, which noted reports of high-end European retailers’ eyeing potential targets.
The Financial Times Deustchland reported yesterday that Richemont, the Swiss group behind Cartier watches and Chloé handbags, is in talks to buy into Rodenstock, a struggling German eyeglass maker owned by Bridgepoint. The Post also pointed out in an earlier report that Richemont was in talks to buy a passive stake in the Italian fashion house Prada.
Meanwhile, the Borletti Group, an Italian department store operator, said Monday that it was interested in gobbling up Ittierre, which owns brands like Malo and Ferré and manufactures collections for the likes of Just Cavalli and Galliano, the newspaper noted.
“Yes, we’ve said we were interested, and we continue to be so,” Borletti’s chairman, Maurizio Borletti, told Women’s Wear Daily. “Ittierre has a unique know-how in the development of second, young lines, and we know of several brands that would wish to expand in that segment.”