Marcolin public share offer starts mid-January

The public offer of shares in Marcolin, made compulsory by the vote and syndicate agreement between the Coffen Marcolin family and brothers Andrea and Diego Della Valle (who acquired 24.4% of the capital last November) will be launched January and conclude February.

The communication by the interested parties to Consob confirmed certain terms that had already been announced December 17, 2004: the public offer is for 21,048,471 shares (equal to 46.385% of the capital) for which an offer price of 1.40 euros has been established, 37.6% higher than the legal minimum.

Up to 6.4 million of the public share offer will be guaranteed by the promoters of the operation, and Unicredit Banca d'Impresa has opened a special credit line for the remaining 23.07 million.

The communication to Consob underscores that the first 4.88% of the capital to be purchased by public offer will go directly to the Della Valle brothers; their shares will then balance against those held by the Marcolins and bring both family groups to a quota of just over 29%. The remainder will be divided into equal parts.

The strategy indicated is strictly industrial and again aims not only at quality eyewear, fashion houses and strengthening production and sales activities, but also at overcoming immediate difficulties through a medium/long-term project that can count on a stable control structure and immediately demonstrate faith in the entrepreneurial ability of current management. After the public share offer there will be no room for a residual offer or for surmising that shares will be removed from the Stock Exchange list: confirmation of this has been renewed by the promoters of the agreement, who emphasize that listing is fundamental for constant contact with investors and for access to the capital market should possible expansion require fresh financial backing.

In fact it has been announced that if the public share offer does bring the promoters over 90% of the shares, the intention is to take the necessary steps within four months to restore sufficient outstanding shares to guarantee the regular implementation of negotiations.

(Source: Il Sole 24 Ore)