Delfin: 43 per cent of its assets are in financial instruments

The weight of financial assets in the value of Delfin – the Del Vecchio family’s holding company, which controls EssilorLuxottica (32 per cent), MPS (17.9 per cent), Generali (10 per cent) and UniCredit (2.8 per cent) – has doubled. For the first time in the holding company’s history, the value of its stake in the eyewear group founded by Leonardo Del Vecchio – which has historically accounted for 80 per cent of its total value – has fallen significantly, making way for stakes in banks and insurance companies, which have never been as high as they have been in recent months. The end result is that the holding company’s portfolio is now perfectly balanced between industrial holdings – which are untouchable by statute – and financial holdings, which are theoretically non-strategic and potentially earmarked for sale.

One need only list Delfin’s holdings to see just how much the ownership structure has changed. If we look at the figures from the start of the year, the weightings and internal balance of the portfolio appear very different from the current situation. In January, during the first trading session of 2026, the value of the Luxembourg-based company – taking only its main assets into account – stood at around 54 billion euros. Of this, over 40 billion euros was generated by its 32 per cent stake in EssilorLuxottica. In effect, the Agordo-based company alone accounted for 75 per cent, whilst the stakes in MPS, UniCredit and Generali covered just over 20 per cent. Looking at current market capitalisations, Delfin’s valuation has fallen to €40 billion, driven mainly by the significant decline in the value of its industrial assets: that 32 per cent stake in EssilorLuxottica is now worth €24 billion, just over 50 per cent of the value of its assets. On the other hand, the substantial rise in the share prices of banks and insurance companies has helped to bolster the holding company’s portfolio: MPS, UniCredit and Generali together are worth almost 17 billion, representing more than 40 per cent of Delfin’s value.

In this regard, the story behind the stake in UniCredit is a remarkable one. It is said that Leonardo Del Vecchio was particularly attached to this banking investment. The long-standing stake held in the bank led by Andrea Orcel is, in fact, the oldest in Delfin’s portfolio, and the founder had never, at any stage of the investment, considered divesting it. A spot-on decision, considering that today that 2.8 per cent stake in the bank, as valued by Gae Aulenti, is worth some €3.6 billion. A little treasure trove held in the portfolio of the Luxembourg-based financial company, first by the founder and subsequently maintained by Francesco Milleri, despite UniCredit’s exponential growth. The invested capital has therefore multiplied, to the extent that the €3.6 billion market value today corresponds almost entirely to the net capital gain on that block of shares.

The holding company’s restructuring comes at a particularly delicate time for Delfin, with management and shareholders currently seeking a solution to the ownership and governance structure. The latest proposal, as reported by this newspaper, which has been presented to the board and is currently under consideration, would involve splitting the holding company into seven ‘mini-Delfins’ – one for each heir – and entering into a shareholders’ agreement regarding the controlling stake in EssilorLuxottica. This is merely a working hypothesis, particularly as the proposal is just one of several solutions gradually put forward to the board by advisers and shareholders to manage and overcome the fragile balance of the shareholding structure. With Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio’s plan to increase his stake in the holding company by purchasing shares from his siblings Luca and Paola now off the table, and the AGM to approve the 2025 financial statements having concluded without incident, the holding company has found itself trapped in the status quo. However, there is one new element compared to the past: the latest showdown between shareholders has revealed that several, if not all, shareholders intend to realise the value of their stake in Delfin and thus exit the holding company’s share capital. And it is precisely this – the greater autonomy to be granted to each shareholder – that is currently under discussion. Among the various scenarios that have emerged over the course of Delfin’s history, the plan to split the company into two remains on the table: industrial assets on one side and financial holdings on the other. One source, however, reports that it will take at least a year to find a solution, but certainly no later than the approval of the 2026 financial statements.

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