Dezeenwire: Giorgio and Emanuele Busnelli, sons of the founder of design brand B&B Italia, have regained corporate control of the business after an eight year partnership with private equity fund Opera. More details below.
The family lost their majority share of the company in December 2002 after selling 55% of their capital to Opera.
All our stories on B&B Italia »
Here’s some more information from B&B Italia:
B&B Italia: The Busnelli family regains total control of the company.
Operation focuses on restoring entrepreneurial vision as the key to strategic development.
Novedrate (COMO), 1 March 2011 – The Busnelli family is once again the major shareholder of B&B Italia, the premier contemporary furnishings manufacturer founded by Piero Ambrogio Busnelli in 1966. An operation carried out under the advisement of Gruppo Banca Profilo and Studio Legale Chiomenti, has restored the total control of B&B Italia to the Busnelli family, which has taken over 51.4% shares from the Opera Fund.
Having maintained their role as operative corporate management through the partnership with the Opera Fund, Giorgio and Emanuele Busnelli, President and Director respectively of B&B Italia, have now also recovered corporate control of the family-owned company.
“We operate in open integrated markets”, says Giorgio Busnelli, President of B&B Italia, “focused on rewarding brands that can express strong intrinsic, aesthetic and functional values, the same that have always underpinned the success of B&B Italia. Therefore, we deem it appropriate on our part to gain full control of the middle and long term development of the company, focusing on B&B Italia’s capacity to endow products with all the values, technical competency and design aesthetics that have generated unmistakable collections in terms of style and elegance for over 40 years.”
Busnelli concludes, “This operation is part of a strategic framework that is driven by ambitious developmental goals, especially in terms of exports towards markets that are experiencing a powerful economic growth and which offer interesting developmental prospects.”
Having been in the business since 1966, B&B Italia is an international leader in the sector of design furnishings both for the retail and corporate market. Products are designed in collaboration with world famous designers such as Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Zaha Hadid, Gaetano Pesce, Naoto Fukasawa, Jeffrey Bernett and many others, and are marketed through the brands B&B Italia and Maxalto.
Consolidated turnover for B&B Italia in 2010 exceeded 156 million euro. The company, which employs a workforce of approximately 500 distributed between the two branches, prides itself on an internal R&D Centre that absorbs about 3% of the yearly turnover.
B&B Italia, cover story
B&B Italia, formed in 1966 as the result of the entrepreneurial vision of Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, is a leading Italian design furnishings company with stores located around the world. Headquartered in Novedrate (COMO) – a building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1972 – the company has built its success on the ability to represent contemporary culture through perception and a trend-setting approach, and by responding to changing taste and lifestyles.
B&B Italia’s call to research and innovation is mirrored in its collections of furnishings that represent an essential segment of Italian design history, based on a unique union of creativity, innovation and industrial know-how, and focused on producing timeless products that last a lifetime.
The heart of the company is its internal R&D Centre, which is a real forge of cultural meetings and experiences, strongly fuelled by partnerships with international designers such as Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Zaha Hadid, Gaetano Pesce, Naoto Fukasawa, Jeffrey Bernett, and many others.
The company’s “Home Division” is present on the home furniture market with the trademarks B&B Italia and Maxalto. The two trademarks have their own brand identity but express the same philosophy, namely a balanced blend of innovation and design to create products, whose unique style and elegance are unmistakable. Today B&B Italia stores can be found in the heart of leading capital cities (Milan, London, Paris, Munich, New York, Chicago, Tokyo) besides 18 single brand stores located around the world. It has also signed commercial agreements with leading players in 54 countries, thus developing a presence of over 750 specialist points of sale.
In addition to the Home Division is the “Contract Division”, the segment dedicated to turnkey projects. This division, which is service-oriented, manages and coordinates the most articulate and complex orders for interiors, ranging from design to logistics, from supplies to installation. Operating sectors include hospitality, retail, offices, public institutions and cruise liners. Key achievements include the hotels Bulgari in Milan, Puerta America in Madrid and Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona. In the cruise liner framework, the Contract Division has completed over 27 orders with leading shipping companies such as Costa Crociere, Holland American Line and Carnival Cruise.
Post a Comment