Private-equity firm Haeres Equita
is the sole bidder for iconic and bankrupt Italian hat maker
Borsalino, the bankruptcy lawyers said Thursday.
Therefore, they said, the company has been handed to Haeres
on a "provisional" basis.
The luxury hat maker, which celebrated its 160th anniversary
last year, went bankrupt in December.
The company employs 135 workers.
A court in Alessandria, where Borsalino is based, rejected
a bankruptcy agreement request filed by Haeres Equita srl, the
company owned by Swiss entrepreneur Philippe Camperio.
In 2017 Camperio became the new majority stakeholder of
the once family-owned Borsalino through Haeres Equita, a private
equity investment company.
The transaction was estimated at about 20 million euros,
corresponding to Borsalino's debts.
The hat maker was able to keep its production in Alessandria
as a result and the company's activity continued with a forecast
revenue this year of 17 million euros.
Borsalino, whose hats have been donned by celebrities and
Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart in 'Casablanca' and
Alain Delon and Jean Paul Belmondo in 'Borsalino', was founded
by the eponymous family in 1857.
Despite a strong brand, the company lost millions of euros
over the past few years, returning to profit only at the
beginning of 2015, amid Italy's deep financial crisis and a
scandal involving former majority owner Marco Marenco.
Marenco was stripped of his powers in 2008 and arrested in
2015 over alleged bankruptcy and fraud.
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