Delfin: Del Vecchio Jr. proposes to other shareholders that they purchase shares
Meeting by 7 November. Lending bank and vehicle with enhanced governance in place
“Today I sent Delfin’s shareholders an offer to purchase their shares. It is the most serious proposal I have ever made.” This was announced by Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio in a letter sent to the publications of the QN group, of which he is the publisher. “I have secured the commitment of a leading international bank to finance the transaction,” he further reveals. “I have proposed both a total and immediate purchase of the shares and other forms of acquisition spread out over time, leaving everyone free to choose.”
De Vecchio Jr explains that he has received “many private appeals and, in the last few hours, public ones too” to “try one last time to resolve the situation before it was too late”, particularly now that “our family situation has attracted the interest of outsiders. ‘It’s legitimate,’ admits Del Vecchio. ‘But I believe that Delfin’s future should be decided by those who know its history and share responsibility for it. That is why I have decided to heed those appeals. I know that an initiative of this scale requires guarantees, not just intentions,’ he emphasises. “That is why the vehicle that will acquire the shares will have strengthened governance rules, set out in a binding charter. Two people with extensive managerial, financial and legal experience will sit on the board alongside me, and they will have a binding say on the most significant financial decisions.” “This is the condition for this proposal to be credible to my family, to the markets and to the people who work in the companies that our father built up,” adds Del Vecchio.
‘I have suggested to the shareholders that we meet by 7 November – either all together or individually – to present the project in detail. I am not asking anyone to give up their ideas. I am asking them to consider a solution that can bring together those who want to leave and those who want to stay.’ “My father built something that belongs not only to our family, but also to those who worked there and to a country that has identified with that history,” he concludes. “My task today is not to be right: it is to help protect it.”
