After months of speculation and inside talks, Italian luxury parent Prada Group has officially acquired Versace from Capri Holdings. For a price of €1.25 billion, Versace will join the company’s portfolio of flagship brands, including Prada and Miu Miu. The news comes weeks after former artistic director and Versace family member Donatella Versace stepped down from her position, and the house enlisted Dario Vitale, who held a 14-year tenure at Prada Group.
Prada Group’s acquisition has arrived at a tumultuous period for the industry as a whole. 2024 marked an especially rocky year for the luxury landscape as spending continued to slip and consumer confidence atrophied. While Versace was hit particularly hard, reporting a 15% drop in sales in the final quarter, Prada Group had a standout year showing 18% sales growth yoy across all of its brands.
While Prada and Versace are distant aesthetically, the company said, “he brand constitutes a strongly complementary addition to the Prada Group’s portfolio and displays significant untapped growth potential leveraging multiple value creation levers,” in an official release. As Prada developed a more refined and discreet aesthetic, much thanks to the direction of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, Versace has maintained the maximalist, opulent style created based on founder Gianni Versace’s vision and his sister’s subsequent tenure. “Within the Prada Group, Versace will maintain its creative DNA and cultural authenticity, while benefiting from the full strength of the Group’s consolidated platform, including industrial capabilities, retail execution , and operational expertise,” the company continued.
Many were surprised in January when Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore released a report detailing a potential acquisition of Versace by Prada Group. Later in February, it was confirmed that Prada Group initiated a full review of Versace and was considering a bid for the brand. In March, Business of Fashion reported that Prada had agreed to a price of almost €1.5 billion EUR ($1.6 billion USD). With the deal now confirmed, how well Versace can integrate into the close-knit Prada brand family remains to be seen.
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