Home » Corneliani avoids collapse, the Invitalia newco is launched with private investments

Corneliani avoids collapse, the Invitalia newco is launched with private investments

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Time for Corneliani was about to run out: by April 15 the plan to avoid the liquidation of the historic men’s clothing company must be presented to the court of Mantua. The hourglass has now stopped: on Friday 19 March the Minister for Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti summoned the parties to the ministry for the following Tuesday (yesterday, for the reader) and an agreement was reached that bodes well.

The satisfaction of Minister Giorgetti

«I am satisfied, it is an important result for everyone, first of all for the Corneliani workers. Nobody has a magic wand, but this signal is proof that there are companies that can walk on their own legs and that, however, in this phase they need a bridge to overcome the difficulties – explained Minister Giorgetti -. It is essential to find other ways, such as the measure that we have included in the Sostegni Decree, which widens the mesh for so-called state aid ”.

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The times of the table at Mise

The minister moved quickly to try to resolve a crisis that arose before the pandemic, worsened by the Covid emergency, which weighed on the entire textile-clothing supply chain, with average turnover losses for 2020, around 25%. Less than twenty days from Giorgetti’s first call to Rome for Investcorp, the Bahrain-based company which owns over 80% of Corneliani (the remainder is owned by the founding family, in turn present at the Mise table) and the unions, the announcement arrived: Investcorp will pay 7 million and Invitalia, a state-owned company – as required by the Relaunch Decree – will release another 10 million to set up a newco who will manage the activities of Corneliani, within the continuity arrangement procedure. The ten billion had been allocated in July 2020, but had never arrived at the company in the absence of operational agreements and the commitment of private capital (in recent months, names of new partners had been made, but no hypothesis had then materialized) . In a note from the ministry another meeting is announced for next week, but the crucial date remains April 15th, when the court will also express itself on the basis of the business plan on which Giorgio Brandazza, CEO of Corneliani (in the photo above, the shop in Rome).

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Investcorp’s position

“We are happy that Corneliani will be supported and that this historic brand will survive after the unprecedented crisis caused by Covid has put the company under great pressure, causing a dramatic drop in consumer spending and prolonged store closures – he commented. Hazem Ben-Gacem, co-chief executive of Investcorp -. Our hope is that this new investment – coupled with the generous support of Mise – will contribute to the breakthrough of this incredible brand, for the benefit of its talented employees and loyal customers. Investcorp is confident that the CEO Giorgio Brandazza, and the management team will be able to bring Corneliani back on a path of growth. We would like to thank the ministry for creating this extraordinary opportunity, which will now allow Corneliani to focus on its development and to look to the future with hope again. “

The public-private formula

The very short times in which the turning point was reached and the moves of Investcorp – which until now had refused to step back on ordinary management and insisted on liquidation – explain the optimism of Minister Giorgetti: “Now everyone is working to restore a future to the workers of Mantua ». «It is an important agreement, but by Easter Minister Giorgetti will have to reconvene us, because the newco will restart from different conditions. We hope to contain employment cuts in Italy to 70%, however, we must carefully and carefully choose the social safety nets », explains Sonia Paoloni, national secretary of Filctem-Cgil, the union that at the end of the table signed the joint note with Femca-Cisl and Uiltec-Uil. The network of stores, which will be rationalized, and the employees abroad will presumably suffer substantial cuts.

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