Carlyle spent five years trying to sell Twinset — Italy bought it back in the red

Carlyle entered Twinset in 2012, raised its stake to 90% by 2015 and took the last 10% in 2017, buying out the label's founders Simona Barbieri and Tiziano Sgarbi, who had built it in Carpi since 1987. The exit was meant to come sooner: the first attempted sale in 2020 was suspended by the pandemic, and the fund kept trying. Five years of attempts passed with no buyer closing.

On 19 June 2025 the sale was sealed: Borletti Group and Quadrivio & Pambianco, through the Made in Italy Fund II vehicle, took 100% for €200 million, returning the brand to Italian ownership after thirteen years of American private equity. Maurizio Negro stayed as president, Gabriele Maggio as CEO.

The business they bought had slipped while the sale hung open. In FY2023 Twinset still posted more than €200 million of revenue and €34 million of profit; FY2024 ended with a consolidated net loss of €12.2 million; FY2025, announced in June 2026, showed revenue down 5% to €194 million and a net loss of €8.8 million — narrowing, but still in the red. The handover covered 800 jobs: 300 at the Carpi headquarters, 500 in the retail network, whose unions asked the new owners simply for continuity.

The shape of the case is an owner that could not leave and could not commit: the overhang of a sale that would not close lasted longer than the brand's margin could, and domestic capital eventually bought the name back as a turnaround project.