Del Vecchio and his succession
On Saturday, June 5, Il Corriere della Sera published a long interview with Leonardo Del Vecchio, the chairman of Luxottica, in which the number one of the Agordo-based group spoke about Italy, the euro, Made in Italy, Cole National and, again, his succession.
'I have six children, the youngest is one year old, and they are all very dear to me. But I won't place such a great responsibility on any of their shoulders, it would be too much. That's why I am directing the future running of the company toward a managerial orientation. A team of managers is already at my side. To date, the elder children have accepted my decision. We have an extended, but united family'.
On the recent change in the offer for American chain Cole National, Del Vecchio commented: 'Before there can be any celebrations we must wait for the opinion of the Us Antitrust. Giving up some of our stores has been taken into consideration. The attorneys are optimistic and we hope that we will get the green light before the end of the year. From the official approval of the shareholders and until that moment, we will pay cash an annual interest of 4% on the price offered of 22.5 dollars per share. As far as Moulin is concerned', Del Vecchio added, 'the banks have played a key role: when they gained access to the data, they realized what the situation was and did not want to finance the operation'.
Commenting on the strength of the euro against the dollar, Del Vecchio explained: 'In 2003 it weighed heavily on the budget, especially for those of us who produce in Europe and sell in the Us. But this year we will recover more than half the damage and in 2005 there won't be any more problems. However, it is true that we have accelerated the acquisition of Cole thanks to the strong euro'.
Nevertheless, Del Vecchio did express some concern about the price of oil: 'with war and terrorism, it is one of the biggest risks for recovery. But I am an optimist by nature and I hope that the next few months will see a return to more reasonable prices'.
On Italy and Made in Italy, Del Vecchio has clear ideas. 'Italians should stop complaining and love this country more. [...] There's a lot of talk about an Italy in decline and which is losing competitiveness', but 'in almost all sectors, from mechanics to design and plant engineering, we are one of the top five worldwide'. Made in Italy, however ' is no longer enough on its own. It's not enough just to sell products, after-sales service is required, investments in advertising, in research, are needed, there must be continuous innovation'.
