Permira-owned Golden Goose to raise €100m in Milan listing

Private Equity Wire

Golden Goose, the Italian luxury sports brand owned by British private equity firm Permira, is planning to raise €100m by floating at least 25% of the business on the Milan Stock Exchange, according to a report by the Financial Times.

As well as raising cash from the sale of new shares, Golden Goose is also set to sell an unspecified number of existing shares. The cash raised will be used to strengthen the firm’s capital structure and pay down debt.

The brand’s “Superstar” sports shoes retail for around €500 a pair and are popular with celebrities including Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.

Despite a slowdown in the global luxury sector, Golden Goose reported revenues of €587m for the year ended 31 December 2023, with an operating margin of 25.4% and is expecting its revenues to grow to €1bn by 2029 while significantly reducing its debt load.

In an interview with the FT, Chief Financial Officer Paolo Del Ferro said that the aim was to “grow organically and deleverage the company while keeping [its] operating margin stable”.

Permira selected banks to work on a float of Golden Goose late last year, which is expected to value the company at about €3bn including debt.

Permira, which will remain the company’s largest investor after the listing, bought the brand in 2020 for about €1.3bn from rival Carlyle, which maintains a minority holding. The IPO is expected to value the business at around €3bn including debt.

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