Central goes shopping in Italy
On the 30th of May 2011 Thailand’s No.1 leading retailer and department store operator, Central Retail Corporation Ltd. (CRC) officialized its expansion into the European market by purchasing for €260 million/ ฿10 Billion, 100% of the quota capital of the No.1 Italian renowned luxury department store; La Rinascente S.R.L. (Rinascente).
During the press conference at Central Chidlom Tower Mr. Tos Chirathivat, Chief Executive Officer of Central Retail Corporation Ltd., stated:
“We are now building up a great new history for the Thai retail Industry…With this acquisition of la Rinascente, it makes Central Retail Corporation Ltd. truly entering to the world-class business leader in department store operator by expanding our three department store brands under Central Retail chain to totally four brands as following Central, ZEN, Robinson and la Rinascente”.
Founded in Milan in 1865 by Luigi and Ferdinando Bocconi, the 150 year old company initially started with a small shop in Via Santa Radegonda. Later on, thanks to the success of the business, they decided to move to Piazza Duomo where Milan’s Cathedral, the main tourist attraction of the city is located. Considering Milan is viewed as the worlds fashion capital city this store is now the flagship store of the company. Milan attracts top world class brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balanciaga, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Zegna, Chloe, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs to name a few, all of which Rinascente provide.
La Rinascente is not restricted to Milan however and can be found in 10 other locations throughout Italy: two in Rome and one in each Catania, Cagliari, Florence, Genoa, Monza, Padova, Palermo and Turin.
Despite the fact that La Rinascente is already a consolidated and well recognized brand, Central seems to have plans for a brighter future for it, expressing the idea of constantly developing its business and expanding their operations. Mr. Tos Chirathivat clearly stated that this is a long term strategic investment:
“After the acquisition, we have a plan to promote Rinascente as a World class lifestyle brand and to locally expand more flagship stores in several tourist cities such as Rome, Venice, Florence including other important cities such as Napoli and Bologna”.
As well as this, the Chirathivat family promised to also “create the opportunity for made in Italy products to expand in profitable and fast growing new markets” reflected through the company’s investment strategy of expansion in other European countries, China and other emerging ASEAN economies. Thanks to the synergies of the business, there are good opportunities for Italian products to easily enter into new markets, in particular the fast growing new markets of Asia.
Buona fortuna La Rinascente, and chock dee Central.
Source: press release Edited by: Narciso Podda