MILAN — A personal relationship and sharing the same business vision has often led to longstanding partnerships. Only time will tell whether this could be in the cards for Remo Ruffini and Renzo Rosso, but on Thursday the two entrepreneurs were clearly in agreement on ways to build the companies they helm, Moncler and OTB, respectively.
“I’m trying to establish an [Italian] luxury group, it’s a good moment for aggregation, spurred by the pandemic,” echoed Rosso, whose OTB fashion group acquired 100 percent of the Jil Sander brand last March. OTB also controls Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni, Viktor & Rolf, Staff International and Brave Kid, and it has a minority stake in Amiri.
“OTB is committed to support its brands to progress rapidly but this requires a lot of investments and human resources,” he added. “I’m president and CEO of Moncler, but I’m really neither of them, there’s a committee of five people with whom I gather weekly to make decisions,” he said. “I’m not attached to ownership, to percentages and stakes but rather I’m committed to create value. In Italy everybody seems to be looking for full ownership, they want to retain 99 percent of their companies. I understand it but this has really prevented the country from getting a [luxury] group,” he added.
Concurrently, as he has previously said over the years, he did not rule out a possible listing of the OTB group in the future, to ensure the company’s continuity. “Public companies leverage an additional boost that a privately owned business cannot have. I like the idea of a broader audience involved in the success of a public company,” Rosso remarked.