Shares of Moncler, the Milan-based maker of luxury quilted jackets, rose more than 40 percent on Monday after going public on the Milan Stock Exchange.
The company's stock price rose as high as 14.80 euros in early trade after pricing at 10.20 euros in an initial public offering. Shares were 27 times oversubscribed, the firm said in a press release on Friday. The company sold a 31 percent stake, including a "greenshoe" overallotment option, raising close to $1 billion. The sale initially valued the company at more than $3 billion.
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Moncler's listing is the largest IPO (initial public offering) in Italy since Prada in June 2011, according to research firm Dealogic. It's also largest global retail IPO since Michael Kors Holding in December 2011, it said.
Chairman Remo Ruffini wouldn reportedly not be selling any of his 32 percent stake in the offering. The big winners from the listing are set to be the company's investors who bought big stakes in Moncler in 2011. Eurazeo, the French private equity firm, bought a 45 percent stake in 2011 for 418 million euros ($576 million). Carlyle Group owns another 17.8 percent and Brands Partners owns 5 percent.
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Founded in 1952, Moncler was a maker of ski jackets in the French Alps near the city of Grenoble. Ruffini has transformed it into a global fashion icon, with sales up more than tenfold over the past decade, to 389 million euros in the first nine months of the year.
Its main product is puffy-style jackets that retail for between $1,000 and about $3,000. The shiny, slim jackets have become a popular status symbol among wealthy women who like the brand's Alpine pedigree and styles, but rarely find themselves on a ski slope.
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Nearly a quarter of sales are still to its home market of Italy but it has branched out to other regions, including the United States, as well as now offering a range of fashion accessories alongside its trademark outerwear.
Ruffini told CNBC that the company wouldn't be putting its label on any product and will look to build the company to be something "really special".
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"I'm very satisfied," he said at the IPO launch event in Milan. He insisted that his focus would never be on top line figures and share performance but rather on its brand and customer satisfaction.
"I never work in numbers, I always work in product and quality," he said. "My vision is long term....I want to see what's happening in ten years." Other areas that the luxury fashion designer will look to expand into include knitwear and winter shoes, he added.
Company revenue grew 21.51 percent year-on-year in 2012, according to Reuters data, a rise of 19.74 percent from the year before.
— CNBC.com's Matt Clinch. Follow him on Twitter @mattclinch81
