Italian fashion brands Liu Jo and Blumarine aim for IPO within two years

The holding company of Italian fashion brands Liu Jo and Blumarine aims to list on the stock market within two years, chief executive and founder Marco Marchi said on Thursday.

Marchi bought higher-end brand Blumarine last November and created a holding company, Eccellenze Italiane Holding EIH, to manage the two brands.

"The project to create a holding company and buy another brand stems from the awareness that Italy's fashion industry has great potential but sometimes is penalized by managerial or financial deficiencies," Marchi said at an industry event in Milan.

He later told reporters the group was not yet ready for an IPO but that he thought one would be possible within two years.

Marchi set up Liu Jo with his brother Vannis in 1995 in the northern town of Carpi, an area with a long tradition in knitwear.

Sales at Liu Jo, positioned in the medium-high sector of the fashion market, reached about 400 million euros ($435 million) last year, he said.

Blumarine, also based in Carpi, was set up in 1977 by Anna Molinari, who owned it until its sale to Marchi in November. The brand generated 33 million euros in revenues in 2018, according to the latest available company data.