Skiwear company Moncler takes second run at IPO

MILAN, Italy - Luxury skiwear maker Moncler is set for a second attempt at a stock market listing to cash in on rising sales that have doubled its value in the past two years to about 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), sources close to the deal said.

The deal will be worth about 750 million euros as existing shareholders sell down their stakes in an initial public offering scheduled to take place in the second half of this year, separate sources told reporters from Reuters and Thomson Reuters news and analysis service IFR.

That target for the IPO would value the company as a whole at around 12.5 times its reported 2012 core earnings of 170 million euros.

Moncler has had a growth spurt since cancelling a planned IPO two years ago which valued it at 1 billion euros.

The company originally planned to sell its stock on the Milan bourse in June 2011, but opted instead to sell a 45 percent stake to French investment group Eurazeo, sidestepping a rocky European equity market that had been thrown into turmoil by the sovereign debt crisis.

The luxury goods sector has weathered choppy equity markets better than many others, insulated by sustained demand from Asia. Moncler's own Asian sales doubled in 2012, sending revenues up 22 percent to 630 million euros.

Moncler's chairman and creative director Remo Ruffini currently holds 32 percent of the company while U.S. private equity group Carlyle has 18 percent and holding company Mittel 5 percent.

Moncler would join four other Italian luxury goods makers - Moleskine, Brunello Cucinelli, Salvatore Ferragamo and Prada - to have gone public in the past two years.

The company controls some other minor brands, but the core Moncler brand has been the main driver of growth, contributing around 70 percent to company earnings. The smaller names, including Henry Cotton's and Marina Yachting, have been spun off and may be sold separately, sources said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca are joint global co-ordinators for the deal, while Intesa Sanpaolo unit Banca IMI, JP Morgan and UBS are joint bookrunners and Lazard is acting as independent adviser, the sources said.

The banks could not be immediately reached for comment.