The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The holding companies of French business billionaire Francois Pinault’s family and banker Matthieu Pigasse announced on Wednesday the creation of I2PO, a SPAC aiming to raise an initial €250 million ($294.50 million) and target the entertainment industry.
The SPAC will be led by Iris Knobloch, I2PO’s chairman and chief executive who built her career at WarnerMedia.
A SPAC, or Special Purpose Acquisition Company, is a shell company with no operational activity whose securities are issued on the stock market for a limited time with the aim of making one or more acquisitions in a particular sector.
Francois-Henri Pinault, the son of Francois Pinault, will represent the Pinault family on the board of I2PO, the first European SPAC dedicated to the entertainment and leisure sectors.
ADVERTISEMENT
I2PO said the initial €250 million private placement was part of a listing on Euronext Paris, and could be increased to €300 million.
The offer period begins on July 14 and ends two days later, I2PO said.
Francois Pinault, whose family holding company Artemis controls luxury group Kering, invested in March in another SPAC set up by former Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam.
In February, Bernard Arnault, the boss of LVMH — Kering’s main rival — launched a SPAC with former Unicredit chief executive Jean-Pierre Mustier focusing on the European financial services sector.
By Richard Lough; Editor: Louise Heavens
The Hood By Air co-founder’s ready-to-wear capsule for the Paris-based perfume and fashion house will be timed to coincide with the Met Gala in New York.
Revenues fell on a reported basis, confirming sector-wide fears that luxury demand would continue to slow.
IWC’s chief executive says it will keep leaning into its environmental message. But the watchmaker has scrapped a flagship sustainability report, and sustainability was less of a focus overall at this year’s Watches and Wonders Geneva.
The larger-than-life Italian designer, who built a fashion empire based on his own image, died in Florence last Friday.