Richemont is shopping and it looks like Prada is in its shopping cart.  According to The Post, Prada has a plan to sell a third of their shares to Richemont. Recently, Richemont has been looking to expand the company to include apparel. The luxury fashion house has had some trouble in the financial front due to their heavy debt, amounted by CEO Partizio Bertelli back when he purchased $ 1.7 billion in unsuccessful ventures like Jil Sander, Helmut Lang and Fendi.

Although this deal is not close to reaching Prada’s desire to go public, the pairing of the two powerhouses could bring some stiff competition to rival powerhouse, LVMH. Think about it luxury Swiss watch and jewelry maker, pairs with luxury fashion house, bang recipe for global success. There are even suggestions that Richemont could even hold a larger share of Prada in the future.

Richemont currently has holdings in Cartier, Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels, and is known to be a little conservative, as opposed to Bertelli who can be a bit of a spark plug. However, this is all still up in the air, in fact Prada reps have declined to comment on even selling minority stake. In the past, Prada has announced plans for going public and its Italian lenders, Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit first approached Richemont last year, putting Prada at a steep $3.8 billion value.

It will be a waiting game to see when or if the deal will actually happen. Already offers from Carlyle Group, TPG and the Qatar Investment Authority were turned down last June, and with competition from Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana perhaps Miuccia Prada and Bertelli will rethink their high asking prices.

Via: NY Post