Ray-Ban heir Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio steps into the spotlight

By Elisa Anzolin

MILAN, June 17 (Reuters) - Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, a son of the late founder of EssilorLuxottica, is seeking the financing for a deal to make him the largest shareholder in family holding company Delfin, the top investor in the $100 billion eyewear group.

The Italian entrepreneur is exploring private debt options to help finance the €10 billion ($11.6 billion) move, a source close to him said on Wednesday. Delfin is also the largest shareholder in Italian lender Monte dei Paschi, the subject of a €30 billion bid from Intesa Sanpaolo , Italy's biggest bank.

It has been quite a rise for Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, 31, EssilorLuxottica's chief strategy officer and president of the Ray-Ban brand, who was little known in financial circles until a few years ago.

In 2022, the year his father died, he set up personal investment vehicle LMDV Capital and began a string of small acquisitions.

LMDV has built a portfolio spanning hospitality, food and beverage, real estate, healthcare and technology. Its assets include mineral water Acqua Fiuggi, hospitality brand Twiga, with its beach club in the Tuscan resort of Forte dei Marmi, as well as restaurants and digital ventures.

The company reached breakeven in 2024 while carrying €360 million of debt, according to a company filing. 

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio attracted wider attention last year when he attempted to buy la Repubblica, one of Italy’s leading newspapers, which was ultimately sold to Greece's Antenna. He then pressed ahead with plans to invest in publishing, acquiring 30% of conservative daily Il Giornale as well as a controlling stake in Quotidiano Nazionale, publisher of regional titles including Il Giorno, La Nazione and Il Resto del Carlino.

He told Corriere della Sera that he aimed to build an Italian media group “untied from political colours”.

BATTLE TO RESHAPE DELFIN

A distinctive figure with long dark hair, beard and glasses, he came to prominence through his efforts to reshape Delfin’s shareholding structure.

The Luxembourg-based holding company owns 32.4% of EssilorLuxottica, is the largest shareholder in Monte dei Paschi with 17.5%, and also holds 10.1% of insurer Assicurazioni Generali and roughly 2.8% of bank UniCredit.

Patriarch Leonardo Del Vecchio divided Delfin equally among eight heirs, each holding 12.5%, while granting broad powers to a board chaired by EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri and requiring large majorities for key decisions.

Disagreements among shareholders have since complicated decision‑making, with the most direct consequence being that the holding has never managed to distribute more than 10% of the dividends envisaged as a baseline scenario in the company’s bylaws.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio has offered to buy out the stakes of two siblings in a €10 billion deal, a move that would lift his holding to 37.5%.

An agreement would make him Delfin’s largest shareholder, although key decisions would still require the backing of other heirs, as the bylaws stipulate supermajority thresholds of two‑thirds or 88%. At the same time, he would be left with a significant debt burden to repay to the banks.

A graduate of Milan's Bocconi University, he joined the family eyewear business in 2017 and has since taken on increasing responsibility. He is now the only Del Vecchio direct heir working in the company, after his stepbrother Rocco Basilico left last year.

($1 = 0.8621 euros)

(Reporting by Elisa AnzolinEditing by Keith Weir)