The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2007–2019
Damiani went public at €150M — eleven years later the family bought it back for €12M
Italy's third-generation jeweler IPO'd in 2007, lost 75% of its value, posted an €18M loss, and delisted in 2019 at €0.855 a share.
Damiani · Borsa Italiana · 2007
What happened
Damiani, the Valenza-based jeweler founded in 1924, went public on Borsa Italiana in 2007 at a valuation of €150.8 million. The IPO was meant to fund international expansion — the company opened stores in India, where it became the first foreign jeweler to hold a 51% controlling stake, and acquired the Italian watch-and-jewelry retailer Rocca for €7 million.
The timing was catastrophic. The 2008 financial crisis crushed luxury spending, and Damiani reported a net loss of €18.2 million in 2010. Revenue stagnated around €137–151 million while the stock shed more than 75% of its IPO value. The public-market costs of compliance and reporting fell on a company too small to benefit from being listed.
In December 2018, the family holding company Leading Jewels announced a buyout of remaining shareholders at €0.855 per share — a total of €11.8 million for the entire public float. By March 2019, with ownership above 96%, Damiani delisted. A company that had asked public investors for €150 million returned them €12 million.
Why it happened
- The IPO timed the exact top of the luxury cycle — 2007 — and the 2008 crisis hit before expansion could generate returns.
- At €150M revenue, Damiani was too small for public-market economics: listing costs consumed resources that a private company could have deployed in stores.
- The India expansion and Rocca acquisition added complexity without adding profit during a downturn.
- The family retained control throughout; public shareholders bore the downside of a strategy they could not influence.
The lesson
A luxury IPO at the cycle top prices in growth a downturn will not deliver. If the business is too small for public markets, the listing is a cost — and the family buys it back at the bottom.
Aftermath
Damiani continues as a private, family-owned jeweler. The brand has stabilized and the India venture was wound down. The case is cited in Italian corporate governance as an example of premature IPO timing in cyclical luxury goods.
Sources
- Damiani — Wikipedia (IPO 2007 at €150.8M; 2010 net loss €18.2M; revenue €137–151M; delisting March 2019 at €0.855/share; Leading Jewels buyout €11.8M; Rocca acquisition €7M; India 51% stake)
- Damiani to delist from Milan Bourse — WWD
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