Tod's rises 18.3% on L Catterton bids to help owner's delisting plan

MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Tod's rose 18.37% on Monday, after private equity firm L Catterton offered to buy 36% of the luxury shoemaker and take it private, in agreement with the Della Valle founding family.

Shares closed at 43.04 euros each, about the same as the 43 euros per share offered by the investment firm backed by France's LVMH, which values Tod's at just over 1.4 billion euros ($1.51 billion).

In a statement on Monday, L Catterton said it owned 3.8% of Tod's capital after buying shares in the group during the session.

The move follows a failed attempt in 2022 by the Della Valles, who own 64.5% of Tod's, to take the company private.

In addition to the eponymous brand, famous for its Gommino loafers, Tod's also owns the iconic Roger Vivier shoe brand, as well as the Fay and Hogan labels.

Citi analysts said shareholders may think the bid's price, which is only 7.5% above the 2022 failed offer's price, does not fully reflect the ongoing turnaround of the Tod's brand and undervalues Roger Vivier.

However, broker Equita said the alliance between Tod's majority and minority shareholders lent credibility to the threat that investors who snub the bid will end up with stock in an unlisted group.

In 2022 the Della Valle family offered 40 euros a share, or a 20% premium, to buy out other investors and strive to revive the group's fortunes by managing its diverse brands separately.

That bid failed to meet the required threshold.

The Della Valle family refrained however from still taking Tod's private, as they had said they could do, by merging it into their DeVa Finance vehicle.

But L Catterton said it plans to merge Tod's into the vehicle used to launch the offer if the bid fails to reach the delisting threshold.

CEO and founder Diego Della Valle is tendering its 10.45% stake in Tod's, while retaining another 54% together with his brother Andrea.

LVMH will keep its 10% stake and L Catterton will own the remainder of Tod's if the offer is successful.

($1 = 0.9284 euro)

(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Additional Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal; editing by Giulia Segreti, Valentina Za and Jonathan Oatis)