LONDON - Moncler, the Italian maker of luxury winter jackets, plans to raise as much as $1.1 billion in its initial public offering on the Milan stock exchange.
The price range for the apparel maker, which had abandoned a plan for an initial share sale in 2011, was 8.75 euros to 10.2 euros a share, according to a statement late Tuesday from Eurazeo, the French investment company that owns 45 percent of the company. Moncler has an option to increase the size of the offer by 15 percent, which would value the share sale at €783 million.
Most of the proceeds are expected to go to Eurazeo, Moncler’s largest shareholder, and the private equity firm Carlyle Group. Remo Ruffini, the Italian entrepreneur and Moncler chairman who bought the company in 2003 before bringing in private equity partners, plans to keep his entire 32 percent in the company, a spokeswoman for Moncler said.
Mr. Ruffini is widely credited with turning Moncler â€" a shortening of Monestier-de-Clermont, the village in Grenoble, France, where the company was founded â€" from an outfitter for the French Olympic ski team into a global fashion brand. In recent years, Moncler has added separate collections designed by Thom Browne and Giambattista Valli to its more traditional lines. Last year, the company had sales of €489.2 million and €161.5 million euros in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It has122 stores.
Moncler’s planned sale is the latest in a growing number of I.P.O.’s in Europe as companies and their investors seek to benefit from an economic recovery and growing consumer confidence. Fashion labels in particular have pursued stock offerings, driven by investors’ desire to tap into luxury retail, a sector that has quickly rebounded since the global financial crisis. Among those that have taken to the stock markets are Michael Kors and the Italian brands Prada and Brunello Cucinelli, while Marc Jacobs stepped down from Louis Vuitton to focus on an I.P.O. for his own label.
Carlyle abandoned plans for a Moncler I.P.O. in Milan in 2011, when the market was volatile, and instead decided to sell a stake to Eurazeo in a deal that valued Moncler at about €1.2 billion. If priced at the top of the range, Moncler’s initial share sale would value the company at €2.5 billion.
The final price of the shares is to be announced on Dec. 11; they are expected to start trading on Dec. 16.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Mediobanca are global coordinators of the sale. JPMorgan Chase, Nomura, Banca IMI and UBS will work as joint book runners and BNP Paribas, Equita SIM and HSBC will serve as lead managers. Claudio Costamagna, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and Lazard are advising Moncler.
