Italian holding company Delfin explores funding for potential internal stake buyout, sources say
- Delfin, the Del Vecchio family's cash cow, is chatting up banks about buying out its own disgruntled members—basically a corporate divorce with extra steps.
- Eight heirs, one grudge: the clan can't agree on who gets the remote control for the 32.4% EssilorLuxottica stake, so they're talking about just kicking a couple of them off the island.
- Corriere says they might grab two shareholders' 25% slice, shrinking the bickering table from eight seats to six and fattening each remaining heir's slice to 16.5%.
- Earlier this year, heir Leonardo Maria tried to buy out two siblings for €10B—it flopped, but the new plan is just Delfin buying him out instead, which is like using the family credit card to silence the family's biggest loudmouth.
- NAV is a cool €40B, but the real asset here is dysfunction: Milleri, the CEO everyone loves to hate, reportedly supports a 'streamlined' structure—i.e., fewer people to ignore his memos.
Brief Summary
Italy's richest family soap opera is back with a new episode: Delfin, the Del Vecchio holding company worth a staggering €40 billion, is reportedly in 'very early' talks with banks to finance a potential buyout of stakes owned by the squabbling heirs themselves. The eight kids of late eyewear tycoon Leonardo Del Vecchio are so deadlocked they can't agree on who controls the family's biggest asset—a 32.4% stake in EssilorLuxottica—so the brilliant plan is to have the company itself buy out a couple of relatives, reducing the drama from eight acts to six. Italian press claims they're eyeing a 25% chunk, maybe even the 12.5% held by the perpetually disgruntled Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, who just this week took another public swing at CEO Francesco Milleri. No deal is certain, and Delfin is playing the classic 'no comment' card while bankers probably lick their chops at the fees. In a nutshell: the rich are fighting over a mountain of cash, and the only thing more convoluted than their family tree is the financing structure they're about to build to avoid just talking to each other. It's the fiscal equivalent of throwing money at a problem that would be solved by a decent family therapist.
Why This Matters
For the average reader, this isn't just billionaire gossip—it's a reminder that money can't buy harmony, even when you have €40 billion to play with. The Del Vecchio feud directly impacts EssilorLuxottica, the giant behind Ray-Ban and Oakley, meaning any instability at the top could ripple into everything from product pricing to corporate strategy, and your next pair of shades might be priced by a company run on spite. If Delfin buys out dissident heirs, it could consolidate power into fewer, friendlier hands, smoothing the way for Milleri to keep his throne, or it could backfire spectacularly, triggering a boardroom war that spills into the public market. More cynically, this is a textbook case of the 1% using borrowed money to solve internal squabbles, showing that even the ultra-wealthy can't escape the family group chat drama—they just finance it with investment banks instead of passive-aggressive texts. The real takeaway: succession planning is a nightmare, and if someone offers you a stake in a family holding company, run.