Golden Goose, the brand of dirty and expensive sneakers, stops its IPO due to the political storm in France | Financial markets

The Italian luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose, famous for its worn-out sports models, has frozen its imminent listing on the Milan Stock Exchange just two days after its placement. The company, which belongs to the British venture capital group Permira, announced this Tuesday that it had delayed its stock market listing due to the “significant deterioration in market conditions following this month’s European Parliament elections and the call…

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The Italian luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose, famous for its worn-out sports models, has frozen its imminent listing on the Milan Stock Exchange just two days after its placement. The company, which belongs to the British venture capital group Permira, announced this Tuesday that it had delayed its stock market listing due to the “significant deterioration in market conditions following this month’s European Parliament elections and the call for general elections in France. ”. The deal was expected to become one of the highest-profile initial public offerings in Europe this year. At this time, a new date has not been set.

The company had to set the price of the IPO today, starting from a range that ranged from 9.50 to 10.50 euros, which represented a valuation of up to 1.7 billion euros. But after a day of “frantic discussions,” according to people familiar with the operation, Financial Times, it was decided to cancel the IPO. More than the price (which could have been around 9.75 euros, according to the newspaper), the risk of some investors who had committed to purchasing shares selling the titles as soon as trading started due to the political storm weighed. The group has also been cautious after the failure of the listing of the Dr. Martens brand, which in three years has plummeted 78% on the London Stock Exchange.

After the proclamation of the results of the community elections and the subsequent announcement of an early election in France, the CAC 40 – the French reference index – has fallen by 5%, erasing more than 240 billion euros of market capitalization in one week. The Milan Stock Exchange also fell almost 4%. Pressure from investors has also caused the French risk premium to rise.

With the price per share at the top of the range, the company was valued at around 1.7 billion euros, with revenues close to 600 million. It was expected that around 61 million shares would be offered in the operation, distributed between the majority shareholder (Permira) and newly issued shares. The fund manager Invesco had reserved 100 million euros in shares to become the majority investor.

The brand had sparked a furor among luxury buyers, among other reasons, because stars such as Selena Gómez or Taylor Swift wore the popular worn-looking shoes, which, despite the dirty appearance, cost more than 500 euros on the website. It is now unknown when the group will resume the operation. “It will be re-evaluated in due time,” the company shared after stopping its IPO at the last minute.

Despite the slowdown in the luxury sector this year, the footwear firm reported a 12% increase in revenue for the first quarter of this year after a record 2022 when it had a turnover of 587 million, 18% more, which encouraged us to go ahead with the IPO. Golden Goose’s IPO would have been Milan’s biggest since the sale of at least €599 million by gambling company Lottomatica in May last year.

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