Luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose Group SpA has reportedly postponed its initial public offering as a weakness in European luxury stocks coupled with an uncertain political environment encouraged owners to cancel Friday’s offering.
Golden Goose was initially set to offer 10.5M shares at an IPO price of €9.75 per share with majority-owner Permira offering 43.6M existing shares, resulting in a market valuation of €1.7B, according to Bloomberg.
Given the timing, however, the Italian company decided to pull the plug for fear of a much lower valuation.
European luxury stocks have been under pressure recently as first quarter results indicated a slowdown in growth amid lackluster demand in China and persistently high interest rates that has repositioned discretionary spending. As a result, the Stoxx Europe Luxury 10 index – which is composed of companies like Hermes, LVMH Moet Hennessy (LVMUY, LVMHF), Ferrari (NYSE:RACE), and EssilorLuxottica (ESLOY, ESLOF) – is down 9.5% in the last 3 months while the European Stoxx 600 Index is up 2.1% during the same period.
The situation has been exacerbated by political instability across Europe after French president Emmanuel Macron dissolved the French National Assembly on June 9 in response to his party’s dismal results in the European Parliament election. Macron called for snap elections to be held June 30th and July 7th, three years ahead of schedule, hoping his gamble will solidify support for his party over that of his right-wing rival Marine Le Pen, and curb the wave of conservatism sweeping across Europe.
