Pronovias, new era with BC Partners: hires international designers to relaunch its brands

New stage for Pronovias. The company has hired international talent to lead the creative areas of its different brands. To coordinate all of them, has named Alessandra Rinaudo, founder of Nicole, as chief artistic designer. 

The rearrangement of Pronovias’ creative team was led by Amandine Ohayon, CEO of the company, that joined the group after the acquisition by BC Partners. “We have to change the model and we have again to innovate and innovate in the way we drive design”, stated the executive to Mds. 

“The pace of change is demanding more innovation and more creativity” stated Ohayon. “We should empower each one of our brands with a creative force and doing that will give us the most powerful innovative system in the industry” stated the executive. 

Rinaudo will be, from now on, the head of all creative teams that work for Pronovias. The executive is the founder of Nicole Fashion Group, the bridal wear company acquired by Pronovias in 2018. Rinaudo will also be the chief artistic director of the entire group. 

Pronovias has signed Riccardo Serravalle and Thomas Vasseur to lead two of its brands 

Nicole Cavallo, daughter of Rinaudo, will lead the creative department of Nicoleand has the mission to speak to a younger audience. St. Patrick brand, on the other hand, will be led by Riccardo Serravalle, that has worked for brands like S Oliver, Barbara Becker or Justin Alexander. 

The group also signed the French designer Thomas Vasseur to lead the occasion wear divisionof the company, now called Party Edit, after working with designers like John Galliano, Alexander McQueen or Jean Paul Gaultier.

With this rearrangement, Pronovias has a design team from different nationalities,that the group see as key to strengthen its different markets and reach new audiences. Up until now, Pronovias had a single star designer: first Manuel Mota and then Hervé Moreau. 

The goal is that the United States becomes the company’s first market in two years 

Demographic growth 

Behind this rearrangement is the intention of the group to focus in its international expansion in the next two years. “Europe is still the main part of our business, but the markets that are growing the fastest are the United States and China” stated Ohayon. 

The United States is one of the priorities of the group.This year, the company has relocated its flagship in New York and has opened in Houston and Miami. In October, the group will open a new store in Los Angeles, followed by Boston, Philadelphia and Austin. 

Pronovias has specific offices for its American market, where fifteen people are currently working. The company plans to open three to five stores per year in the United States.

Meanwhile in Europe the group is growing through acquisitions (first the Italian Nicole and then the Dutch Lady Bird), in the United States it does not foresee, but also does not rule out, carrying out any corporate operation, just like in China.

The company has opened this year its first store in the Asian giant, in the Plaza 66 shopping center in Shanghai. The group wants the Atelier Pronovias and Pronovias Privee lines to grow in China, as they are the Pronovias collections with a higher price and positioning.

Europe currently generates more than 50% of the Spanish company’s business.Ohayon’s forecasts the United States to become the group’s first market in two years, overcoming Spain.

According to the latest available data, Pronovias closed its fiscal year 2017 with a revenue of 166 million euros and could move up to between 170 million and 180 million euros in 2018. This forecast, elaborated by Moody’s, contemplates a “successful” integration of Nicole, the Italian bridal fashion firm that the group bought in 2018.

The ebitda of the group in 2018 stood at 35 million euros,which meant a 22% drop from the previous year, while the gross margin ranged between 17% and 20%, compared to 24.7% of 2017. The group’s debt, meanwhile, is increasing, going from a leverage rate of 6.8 times ebitda to between 7 and 7.5 times ebitda.