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November 9th is a crucial date for Trussardi: according to what was reported by the trade unions, a new meeting will be held today as part of the negotiated settlement procedure launched last March by the Bergamo company at the Court of Milan. The settlement procedure, renewable for a total of 6+6 months, has already been extended by the crisis manager in agreement with the creditors.
The company is currently controlled by QuattroR which in 2019 took over a share of approximately 60% of the maison, through the establishment of a Newco 70% owned by QuattroR and 30% by Tomaso Trussardi, which controls 86% of the holding Finos, sole shareholder of Trussardi SpA To take care of the restructuring of the company in great difficulty – in March it was exposed to over 50 million euros in debt; in July a note from the unions spoke of a loss of 20 million euros on an overall balance sheet of 65 million – another company from Bergamo was called, Angelo Rodolfi’s 3X Capital.
Three scenarios: from taking time to judicial liquidation
There are three alternative scenarios to an agreement (which at the moment does not appear to be among the solutions): the further extension of the out-of-court procedure, in effect a “protectionist measure” which aims to settle the company’s debts (while a potential buyer is sought) ; the closure of the procedure with a preventive agreement or with an ad hoc measure, considered to be of last resort, i.e. the simplified liquidation agreement which does not provide, for example, for the appointment of a judicial commissioner, does not recognize the right to vote of creditors and does not provide a minimum percentage of satisfaction for the unsecured. The last option is that of judicial liquidation, the procedure that replaces bankruptcy. These two options could pave the way for a possible buyer who could take over the company or just the brand.
No confirmation on the “white knight” (but many rumors)
Although rumors in recent months have reported a series of expressions of interest from financial or industrial entities (most recently the Piedmontese group Miroglio) regarding the purchase of the Levriero company, at the moment none of these have concretized. From March to today, in an attempt to cut costs by around 15 million euros, the company has closed two stores (in Arese and Rome), closed some foreign branches including those in Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria, which will be followed by those in France, Spain and China. For the employees of Trs Evolution (the operating company, with around 200 employees to date) the extraordinary redundancy fund was activated in May, expiring on 31 December 2023: the use of the social safety net, however, seems to be limited to the employees of the administrative headquarters in Milan and, according to what was declared by the unions, it does not appear to be usable for points of sale, both in full price shops and outlets.
Also on November 9, Trussardi will launch a special sale of garments and accessories from the autumn winter 2023 collection (the last one presented, before the resignation of CEO Sebastian Suhl and the Board of Directors, followed by the farewell of creative directors Benjamin A. Huseby and Serhat Işık) , a “family and friends” event with discounts of up to 80% on the entire collection present in the flagship store in Piazza della Scala 5, a shop symbolizing the rise of Trussardi in Milan in the 80s: a campaign of strong discounts that could but bring liquidity into the company’s coffers.