MILAN, June 27 (Reuters) – Italy’s Leonardo Del Vecchio, who rose from childhood poverty to construct the eyewear empire that owns manufacturers resembling Ray-Ban and Oakley, has died on the age of 87, his firm stated on Monday.
Del Vecchio added a splash of Italian fashion to spectacles and have become one among Europe’s wealthiest males, investing a few of his riches to construct stakes in Italian monetary group Mediobanca (MDBI.MI) and insurer Generali (GASI.MI). learn extra
The billionaire based the Luxottica enterprise in 1961, initially to produce parts for glasses, and remained the chairman and main shareholder on this planet’s largest eyewear group after it mixed forces with France’s Essilor in 2018.
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Designer Giorgio Armani was amongst these to pay tribute to Del Vecchio with whom he had labored because the Eighties.
“Collectively, we invented a phenomenon that didn’t exist: we instantly realised that glasses, from easy purposeful objects would grow to be indispensable vogue equipment,” Armani stated. learn extra
Partly raised in an orphanage, Del Vecchio’s rags-to-riches story mirrored Italy’s personal restoration after World Conflict Two.
“A number one determine in Italian enterprise for greater than 60 years, Del Vecchio created one of many nation’s largest corporations from humble beginnings,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi stated, calling the entrepreneur “an awesome Italian”.
SHOCK SENDS SHARES LOWER
Italian media stated that Del Vecchio had died in Milan’s San Raffaele hospital after being admitted with pneumonia.
He had remained an energetic and influential determine in Italian enterprise and his loss of life got here as a shock.
“EssilorLuxottica sadly publicizes right now that its chairman has handed away,” the group stated in an announcement, including that the the board would meet to “decide the following steps”.
He remained govt chairman of EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA) till December 2020, when he handed the day-to-day management of the corporate to Chief Govt Francesco Milleri, a long-standing ally.
Del Vecchio’s affect prolonged past his personal enterprise and on the finish of 2021, he was Italy’s second richest man behind Giovanni Ferrero of the Nutella-making group, based on Forbes.
His loss of life raises questions on what’s going to grow to be of his 32% stake in EssilorLuxottica and different investments. He had six kids however no publicly designated inheritor.
His Delfin holding firm is the most important shareholder in Italian monetary providers group Mediobanca (MDBI.MI) and has a stake of slightly below 10% in Italy’s largest insurer Generali (GASI.MI). It additionally owns about 27% of actual property firm Covivio (CVO.PA), listed in each Paris and Milan.
Shares in EssilorLuxottica traded 1.6% decrease by 1330 GMT, whereas these in Generali and Mediobanca each slipped greater than 2.5%.
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Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi, extra reporting by Giulia Segreti and Federico Maccioni,
Writing by Keith Weir
Modifying by Barbara Lewis
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