Cavalli will Not Sell

Back in April, Roberto Cavalli told the world his company is up for sale. Merrill Lynch, advisor to the sale, valued it at $2.19 billion, and rumors of bids started to arise. Then in June, Cavalli told the world he might sell the company, but that he comes with the package: “"Roberto Cavalli is me. I have built it all my life. It's like my big baby and I'm its big daddy,” he told WWD.

Now Cavalli says the sale is completely off, thanks to a bad economy. And despite big bids by heavyweight equity funds like Candover, Carlyle and Texas Pacific expected in the coming weeks, he refuses to give up his “baby” for a mere 800 to 900 million euros.

“I’m not selling the company,” Cavalli said in an interview with Italian fiancial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. “The timing is not ripe yet for such a step. What’s more, as I have already said a thousand times, we don’t need [to sell].”

For now, it seems like we can definitely count on more of Cavalli’s wild taste on the runway.
-Grace Bahk