Industry News
Italian Luxury House Zegna Goes Public on N.Y. Stock Exchange
Journey To Be More Important Than Destination
Just before Christmas, December 21, 2021, Zegna made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange and became the first Italian luxury fashion brand to be listed on the world’s largest equities-based exchange platform. With that, December marks the dawn of a new era for luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna as the company will be rebranded. The brand will adopt a singular name – Zegna.
Founded 111 years ago, the company is one of the world's largest menswear manufacturers. The group, which employs 7,000 people worldwide, recently reported annual sales of over one billion euros.
According to Zegna, the change in branding “celebrates our family heritage while looking forward with an ownable and tightly defined aesthetic and attitude”. The Italian brand, for more than a century, has been following its own defined path, and its connection to the road remains unchanged.
“Today marks a monumental milestone for Zegna and is the beginning of an exciting and pivotal new chapter in our 111-year legacy,” said Gildo Zegna, CEO of Zegna Group. “What began as a wool mill built by my grandfather has now become a publicly traded, modern luxury group with a one-of-a-kind manufacturing platform, sophisticated digital operations, and global scale and reach.”
For the brand, the journey is more important than the destination. From the time of its founder to the current third-generation now led by Gildo Zegna, the focus has always been on building a community around the company’s wool mill. The founder “built a new kind of ethical entrepreneurship and an ethos of giving back,” which was uncommon back then and is now a guiding principle of Zegna and is also widely practiced by other brands.
From the initial road that its founder Ermenegildo Zegna built over a century ago, where he established the company in Northern Italy, now the company has expanded its footprint across the Atlantic Ocean to New York. The company is expected to complete its IPO short-term on the New York Stock Exchange, and this is only the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Zegna.
Zegna Group agreed to go public by merging with Investindustrial Acquisition Corp. (IIAC), a US special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal values the world-renowned fashion house at US$3.2 billion. With the finalization of the transaction, the Zegna family will hold onto the company’s control with a stake of approximately 62 percent. IIAC will be provided with an 11 percent stake in the Italian brand.
Shares started trading under the ZGN ticker at US$10.30 before reaching a high of US$11.32 and closed at US$10.74 — a 4.2 percent jump from the initial share price. The momentous day saw the Milan-based brand being valued at around US$3.1 billion as it went public through the SPAC created by Investindustrial and led by Sergio Ermotti. The IPO helped Zegna raise US$761 million. According to Business of Fashion (https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/zegna-goespublic-as-it-seeks-to-chart-a-new-future/), the brand has revealed that it will use the funds to “build up its brick-and-mortar footprint and expand beyond its staple suits”.
By: Yvonne Heinen-Foudeh, Needle’s Eye Senior International Correspondent