Change Capital Partners Sells Frette
MILAN — London-based private equity fund Change Capital Partners LLP has sold its stake in Italian upscale linen, home furnishings and loungewear firm Frette to Raza Heritage Holdings, a consortium of strategic and private equity investors.
Financial details were not disclosed.
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Change Capital Partners, which took a majority stake in Frette in 2014, is a former owner of the Jil Sander brand, which it had acquired from the Prada Group and then sold to Onward Holdings. It is also an investor in Paris-based luxury brand Paule Ka.
Founded in 1860 and headquartered in Monza, about a half-hour drive from Milan, Frette also supplies linens to prestigious hotels and restaurants globally, with accounts that span from the Vatican to the Orient Express.
The brand decorates private homes with its bed, bath, home decor, tabletop and outdoor offerings; luxury hotel properties, from the St. Regis and Four Seasons to the Ritz-Carlton, The Peninsula, the Mandarin Oriental, The Luxury Collection and Aman; private clubs, like the Yacht Club de Monaco or the Soho House, and spas, yachts and private jets.
The company’s chief executive officer Filippo Arnaboldi told WWD in April that its 2022 full-year revenues reached 128 million euros. Arnaboldi added that 45 percent was generated from Frette’s direct-to-consumer channels (14 percent of its DTC sales were generated from e-commerce). Wholesale represented 15 percent of the total, while Frette’s business-to-business hospitality revenues made up 40 percent.
There are 140 stores globally, of which 30 are directly operated. Later this year Frette will refurbish its New York store on Madison Avenue.
The statement on the sale was sent Wednesday on behalf of the law firm CMS Italy, which advised Change Capital Partners, along with CMS Luxembourg. Paris-based investment banking firm Ekapartners acted as the fund’s exclusive financial adviser.