La Perla, the rescue is a reality: company buyer found and jobs protected

'La Perla is saved! The symbol of Made in Italy will be relaunched by an investor who will guarantee the brand, the production site and all the employees": this is how the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, announced the closure of the dossier concerning the historic lingerie company in Bologna, which had been open for almost two years, during the La Perla Table in the via Mattei plant. On 25 January last, theannouncement of sale of the assets of the La Perla group, including the brand and the production plant, had been published.

"Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of the commissioners, the Italian receivers, the English liquidators and the Mimit staff, we have found an industrial solution for one of the most emblematic crises in the fashion industry, one of the most complex ever faced by the ministry, for the first time grappling with several procedures in different countries, with a legal complexity that seemed inextricable. A great success, the result of teamwork,' added Urso.

On 10 June, at the Mimit in Rome, the name of the buyer will be announced to the unions and institutions, on which the minister anticipates that it is 'a unitary entity that has expressed its interest in the brand, the production site, and the workers, presenting a concrete industrial project for the relaunch of this historic reality, an icon of Italian fashion. We are defining with the Ministry of Labour the rule for the extension of the redundancy fund pending the completion of all the procedures for the transfer to the new entity, a rule that will be present in the next decree-law'.

While waiting to know who will win La Perla, it has been announced that full employment will be maintained: therefore, not only will the 210 employees involved in the La Perla Manufacturing and La Perla Global Management procedures be hired, but there will also be an increase in the workforce with a further 40 new hires. "A qualifying element of the project," said Urso, "is the desire to maintain and relaunch the Bologna production site, investing in its progressive reactivation as the manufacturing heart of the brand.

The trade unions express satisfaction with the agreement reached: in a joint note Filctem, Femca and Uiltec state that 'La Perla's crisis stems from the financial speculation of investment funds of which it has been the victim; the hope is that the new management will be characterised by an industrial management that enhances professionalism and therefore the La Perla product'. The merit of the result, they continue, 'is to be attributed to the struggle and commitment of the La Perla workers together with their representatives, who in these months of difficult and constant mobilisation have always believed that the soul of this company lies in their great professionalism, their skills are the real added value of this historic brand'.