MILAN – Oxy Capital has formalized a binding offer to buy Aeffe, affording future prospects for the financially troubled Italian fashion group.

On Friday, Italian unions FILCTEM-CGIL, FEMCA-CISL, UILTEC- UIL expressed “satisfaction with and a positive view of” this development that will allow Aeffe to avoid a liquidation or a corporate insolvency.

Oxy Capital will operate with a Chinese industrial partner and Invitalia, Italy’s agency for development of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, “confirming the attractiveness” of Aeffe, and “the value of the expertise” of its employees and artisans, the unions said in a statement, while awaiting the details of the deal, which will condition the outcome. 

Their priorities for the phase of negotiations include full protection of the existing jobs and employees’ contractual rights, and an industrial plan that will guarantee development, investments, continuity of production and a relaunch in the long-term, avoiding financial and speculative operations.

A meeting has been scheduled on Sept. 28 for additional updates.

As reported, Aeffe, parent of Alberta Ferretti, Moschino and Pollini and listed on the Euronext Milan market of Borsa Italiana, received an offer from Oxy Capital Srl in May, followed by due diligence, that would allow a corporate turnaround. Aeffe is in the midst of a corporate restructuring within a negotiated composition of the business crisis.

Aeffe has been selecting potential investors with the support of Lazard. Oxy Capital, with offices in Lisbon, Portugal and in Milan, is specialized in corporate turnaround transactions, and is acting “as lead investor on behalf of a consortium of industrial and financial partners still in the process of being structured,” Aeffe stated on its website.

If all goes well, “the restructuring proposal may be submitted to all creditors with the aim of attaining subsequent court approval by October 2026, which would allow the transfer transaction to be completed by the end of the 2026 financial year,” according to Aeffe.

As per the latest figures reported in November, sales in the nine months ended Sept. 30 amounted to 155 million euros, a 25.4 percent decrease compared with 207.8 million euros in the same period last year.

Consolidated losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounted to 11.9 million euros.

Net of the IFRS effect, debt stood at 114.9 million euros compared with 67.7 million euros at the end of December 2024.

Despite the challenges, in June, Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo were named Moschino’s new creative directors.

They succeed Adrian Appiolaza, who parted ways with Moschino after two years, as reported.

Messina and Rizzo’s first collection for Moschino will bow in September during Milan Fashion Week. In September last year, Messina and Rizzo exited Sunnei, the brand they founded in 2014.