Will Prada buy Versace? That’s the question the fashion industry has been asking since reports of an acquisition first surfaced in January. The curious minds may not have long to wait, so long as President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs don’t get in the way.
Reports and speculation have ramped up this week. Reuters reported on Monday that Prada was to make a decision by 10 April as to whether or not it would buy Versace, with initial reports pricing the Capri-owned Italian fashion house at $1.6 billion. On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that a deal was imminent, but that the sales price had been shaved down to $1.38 billion, thanks to the anticipated impact of Trump’s tariffs on the market. That would be a sizable markdown for Capri, which acquired the company for $2.1 billion in 2019. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reported that there’s a 50-50 chance a deal goes through, thanks to the market turmoil. This is all according to sources. Capri declined to comment, and Prada did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Vogue Business.
“Market dynamics generally are changing very quickly, so it is impossible to be certain whether the Prada-Versace tie-up will go through imminently or ever,” says Bryce Quillin, economist and co-founder of luxury strategy agency It’s A Working Title LLC.
Industry speculation that Versace was for sale swiftly followed the termination of the Tapestry-Capri deal in 2024, which would have merged the two American conglomerates. Capri has never confirmed that it’s shopping around Versace or its stablemate Jimmy Choo in order to focus on flagship brand Michael Kors, but reports surfaced that potential Versace buyers included Prada Group, former Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri and a slew of PE firms. Soon, it was understood that it was Prada’s if Prada wanted it, and the group allegedly got one-month exclusivity on Versace’s financials, bringing us to the 10 April deadline.
The timeline was then complicated by the onset of Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs and the ensuing trade war, which has cost global stock markets trillions of dollars in value. A rally on Wednesday in response to the news that Trump backed down on his tariffs plan, save for China, sent Capri stocks shooting up 27 per cent on Wednesday afternoon, though shares are down more than 11 per cent in the last five days.
The development could bode well for the deal, experts say. “The 90-day delay may be helpful as it sends a signal that President Trump may not want globally high tariffs in the long run but, rather, is playing a game of negotiation,” says Neil Saunders, managing director at Globaldata.
If the 90-day stay leads to a return of greater stability in financial markets, Quillin also expects increased odds that we will indeed see a Prada-Versace deal this week, though the ultimate price could change. It’s hard to say for sure, he cautions, given the high residual uncertainty in global commercial fashion markets. “But the tariff delay should provide a new window to get the deal done,” he says.
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