The Safilo Group, which produces fashion brands Gucci, Christian Dior and Polo Ralph Lauren under licence, could be taken into private ownership it has been reported.
Visionmonday.com stated this week that chairman Vittorio Tabacchi and his family plan to purchase the 30 per cent of Safilo stock it does not own already. This would place the company under the control of Mr Tabacchi, his son and daughter, the article claims.
SafiloÕs stock is currently traded on the Milan stock exchange.
The company reported sales ahead by nearly 36 per cent for the first quarter of 2001 earlier this month (News, May 4). The Italian company, which announced a move into contact lens production in April, achieved net sales of 232.9m euros (451bn lire) in the first three months of the year.