American handbag designer Michael Kors is all set to acquire Italian fashion brand, Versace. The deal has been finalised at a whopping price of $2.12 billion. After the death of Gianni Versace in 1997, Donatella has been the creative director of the Europen brand while his brother Santo is the Chairman.
The company is mostly owned by the Versace family but a private equity firm Blackstone Group too has a 20% stake in the company. Kors will rename his company along with Versace as Capri Holdings.
John D Idol, chief executive of Michael Kors was quoted in a report by The Indian Express saying, “With the full resources of our group, we believe that Versace will grow to over US$2.0 billion in revenues. We believe that the strength of the Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo brands and the acquisition of Versace, position us to deliver multiple years of revenue and earnings growth.”
Donatella Versace announced the deal saying, “This is a very exciting moment for Versace. It has been more than 20 years since I took over the company along with my brother Santo and daughter Allegra. I am proud that Versace remains very strong in both fashion and modern culture.”
Kors explained that the management team would continue to be led by CEO Jonathan Akeryo. He added that Donatella, her daughter, Allegra, and Santo would become shareholders in Capri Holdings.
According to the daily, Akeryod said in a statement, “Since I joined Versace over two years ago, our focus has been on leveraging the company’s heritage and strong brand recognition worldwide, which has allowed us to experience significant growth in all regions. Donatella’s unmatched vision has led to the continued and growing success of our brand. I am thrilled to be joining Capri Holdings Limited, which will be instrumental in accelerating our growth globally.”
Kors expanded his business by acquiring Jimmy Choo for about $1.2 billion in 2017.
Also read: BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: 8 times Kylie Jenner gave some serious style GOALS!