The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 1984–2007
'Finanza, finanza e poi ancora finanza' — how Fila left Biella and came back Korean
The tennis brand born in Coggiola in 1911 was sold to a US fund in 2003, de-Biellized, then bought back by its own Korean licensee. Now the archive is home.
Fila
HearsayWidely repeated, and we cannot show you a document for it. Read it for the lesson, not as fact.
What it means today
When a brand trades as a balance-sheet item, watch who understands it as a business. Cerberus priced Fila as a fix-and-flip; its own licensee priced it as a future — and took it public two years later at double the issue price.
What happened
Fila was born in 1911 in Coggiola, in the pre-Alps above Biella — the Fila brothers' knitwear works, which in 1923 became the Maglificio Biellese with its headquarters on Viale Cesare Battisti in Biella. In 1973 came the great turn: colour on tennis whites, and Björn Borg wearing it. Then Vilas, Panatta, Sabatini, Seles and Becker; in skiing, Stenmark from 1974 and above all Alberto Tomba. By 1984 the company counted 500 employees, most of them in Biella — the year the finance arrived: Snia, chaired by Cesare Romiti, bought 80 percent.
Finance, finance and then more finance. In 1988 Gemina took Snia's share, at a moment when Fila turned over 90 billion lire and lost 3; in 1997 the holding Hdp inherited the textile portfolio — Fila, a line item in a media reorganization. Talks began in 2001 under Maurizio Romiti; the bill was 139.7 million euros of losses in 2001, 80.9 in 2002, and 295 million dollars of debt. On 8 March 2003 Hdp — by then Rcs MediaGroup — announced the sale to Sport Brands International, a newco of the American fund Cerberus: 351 million dollars, against 295 million of debt. The closing followed in June.
Under Cerberus it was sbiellesizzata — de-Biellized. The Italian headquarters moved to Milan; the Biella building stood empty from 2004. The fund cleaned the accounts, then put it back on the block. In 2005 Gene Yoon — the brand's Korean licensee since 1991 — bought Fila Korea for 127 million dollars; in January 2007 his company bought the rest — the worldwide rights — for about 350 million dollars. 'One of the first internationally renowned brands to be owned directly by a Korean company' — the deal's lawyers. In 1991 Biella had offered Yoon 45 percent of the venture; he could not afford it.
Fila Korea listed on the Kospi in September 2010, raising 99 million dollars, doubling on debut day; in 2011 it bought golf maker Acushnet for 1.23 billion dollars. It renamed itself Fila Holdings in 2020, Misto Holdings in 2025. The rimpianto got its answer: the foundation Yoon created in 2010 keeps the archive and the museum. In 2022 it bought back the old headquarters; in November 2025 it opened there the 8,200-square-metre Brand Experience Center. If in Biella only memories remained, in Korea the present smiles — and now the memories have come home too.
Why it happened
- The brand passed from one holding to the next — Snia, Gemina, Hdp — each treating it as a line in a portfolio, until the losses made it a disposal.
- The sale went to a fund whose stated craft was fixing distressed companies to resell them: Cerberus cleaned the accounts, de-Biellized the brand, and flipped it within four years.
- The licensee saw what the owners did not: Yoon, offered 45 percent in 1991 without the money to take it, bought the whole brand in 2007 for about what the fund had paid.
The lesson
A brand can outlive its owners and still lose its home. Sold as a distressed asset, de-Biellized by the fund that flipped it, Fila was bought back by the licensee Biella had under-priced in 1991.
Sources
- Wikipedia (it) — Fila (azienda) (founded 1911 in Coggiola, provincia di Biella, by the Fila brothers; 9 February 1923 the Maglificio Biellese is born on Viale Cesare Battisti; 1973: Maby becomes Fila Sport, colour on the tennis line; champions: Vilas, Borg, Panatta, Sabatini, Seles, Becker; skiing from 1974 with Stenmark, then Tomba; 1988 Gemina takes 53.2%; March 1997 Hdp; 'Nel giugno del 2003 Rcs MediaGroup (ex Hdp) cede alla Sport Brands International, con sede a Bermuda e controllata dal fondo privato di investimenti statunitense Cerberus'; 2007: Gene Yoon of Fila Korea buys the worldwide group, 'il valore della transazione è stato superiore ai 350 milioni di dollari'; the Korean subsidiary bought in 2005 for 127 million dollars)
- Corriere della Sera — Addio alla Fila, Hdp completa il riassetto (8 March 2003, Stefano Agnoli: Cerberus newco Sport Brands International; 'Il prezzo pattuito per la cessione è di 351 milioni di dollari'; 2001 loss 139.7 million euros, 2002 loss reduced to 80.9 million; operating result 20 million against a 49.9 million loss in 2001; bank debt about 250 million euros plus about 37 million owed to Hdp; the farewell 'costituisce sostanzialmente l'atto finale della concentrazione nel settore editoriale'; Cerberus 'specializzata nel risanare aziende in difficoltà per poi rivenderle')
- Pambianco — Fila ceduta agli americani di Cerberus (10 March 2003: price 351 million dollars; 'indebitamento finanziario di 295 milioni di dollari al 31 dicembre scorso'; loss cut 42% to 80.9 million euros against 139.7 million; buyer assumes financial debts contracted from 1 January 2003 plus commercial debts; Hdp intervenes as guarantor; Q4-2002 net loss 16.6 million against 52.1 million; January–June 2003 orders down 23% vs 2001)
- SGB Media — Sports Brands Completes Fila Deal (23 June 2003: 'Sport Brands International, LLC (SBI) on Tuesday closed the $351 million acquisition of all global Fila subsidiaries, which include Fila USA, Fila Sport SpA, Fila Nederland BV, Ciesse Piumini SRL and Enyce, from Fila Holding S.p.A.'; SBI assumes all debt accumulated since the beginning of the year; Gene Yoon named CEO and President of SBI in Asia)
- WWD — Fila Sold to Fila Korea (18 January 2007: Fila Korea bought Fila Luxembourg, holding worldwide Fila brand rights, from Sports Brand International, a company within Cerberus; estimated purchase price around $350 million with Samsung helping the financing; 'Less than four years after buying Fila, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management has sold the Italian active apparel company'; Yoon had acted as the brand's South Korean licensee for decades and completed a management buyout of Fila Korea in 2005; Baker, Paul Hastings: 'one of the first internationally renowned brands to be owned directly by a Korean company'; when Cerberus bought Fila in 2003 it had been up for sale for almost two years, burdened with more than $300 million of debt)
- NewsBiella — Fila: orgoglio coreano, rimpianto biellese (18 February 2014, Giampiero Canneddu — THE TELLING: Sochi 2014 point-of-view opening; 'La Fila, nata a Coggiola sulle prealpi della Valsessera più di cento anni fa, adesso è a tutti gli effetti un'azienda coreana'; 1984 Snia bought 80% of a 500-employee firm; 1988 Gemina 'fatturava 90 miliardi ma ne perdeva 3'; 1997 Hdp; 2001 sale talks under Maurizio Romiti; price '351 milioni di dollari, a cui si sottraggono i 295 milioni di dollari di indebitamento'; Yoon held 10% in 1991, was offered 45% but could not afford it; 2005 MBO for 127 million dollars; 'Finanza, finanza e poi ancora finanza'; 'la Fila si "sbiellesizzò" progressivamente'; closing: 'A Biella solo i ricordi, chiusi dentro un museo visitabile su prenotazione. E un sussulto di rimpianto...')
- SGB Media — Fila Korea Goes Public (4 October 2010: 'Fila Korea Ltd., which in March 2007 purchased the Fila brand from Sports Brands International Ltd.'; second-best debut of the year on the Kospi — closed at 68,700 won, doubling from the 35,000 won IPO price; raised 113.8 billion won ($99 million) offering 3.25 million shares at the top end; proceeds to pay down debt from the 2007 acquisition; Yoon: 'It is only fitting that the IPO comes just a few months before the Fila brand's 100th anniversary year')
- NewsBiella — FILA 'torna a casa' con il suo Brand Experience Center (4 November 2025: opens to the public 14 November 2025 in the historic building on Viale Cesare Battisti 26, which hosted the brand from 1923 to 2004, reacquired and fully renovated, about 8,200 square metres; Gene Yoon identified as Chairman di Misto Holding: 'Il mio amore per FILA risale ai primi anni del marchio... una pietra miliare che collega il nostro glorioso passato al futuro del Brand'; tennis area dedicated to Björn Borg; the 1970s transformation under Enrico Frachey)
- Fondazione FILA Museum — Chi siamo ('La Fondazione FILA Museum nasce nel 2010 per volontà di Gene Yoon, Presidente di FILA'; dual function of archive and museum preserving the history of FILA; museum at Via C. Cavour 17B, Biella)
- Misto Holdings — official history (1991: Establishment of FILA Korea Ltd.; 2005: independent via management buyout from FILA Global; 2007: acquired FILA global trademark rights; 2010: listed on the Korea Exchange, KOSPI 081660; 2011: acquisition of Acushnet Company; 2020: renamed FILA Holdings Corp.; 2025: name changed to Misto Holdings Corp.)
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