Pantaleo Dell’Orco Steps In as Head of the Armani Foundation, Steering Group Transition

The Giorgio Armani Foundation, the backbone of the succession plan and the future sale of the Italian group, will be chaired by Pantaleo Dell’Orco, the designer’s partner and confidant for decades, according to a document accessed by Reuters.

Dell’Orco, who inherited most of the capital and voting rights after the couturier’s death on September 4th at the age of 91, will head the Foundation’s board along with one of Armani’s nephews and three independent members.

The Giorgio Armani Foundation, created in 2016 to protect the house’s legacy, controls 30% of the group’s voting rights. Until his death, Giorgio Armani himself chaired the entity, conceived as a guarantor of the brand’s creative and business continuity.

Dell’Orco, who already holds 40% of the company’s voting rights, thus consolidates his position as a key figure in the group’s new phase. He will be joined on the board by Andrea Camerana, Armani’s nephew and holder of 15% of the voting rights, together with independent directors Irving Bellotti, a Rothschild banker, Andrea Silvestri, a lawyer with the Legance law firm, and the Milanese notary Elena Terrenghi.

The Giorgio Armani Foundation will play a key role in the company’s future

The designer’s will gives the foundation a determining role in the gradual sale of the company and in the choice of its next CEO. According to the document cited by Reuters, major governance or voting decisions at extraordinary meetings will have to be approved unanimously by the five board members.

Armani’s will instructs his heirs to sell 15% of the company’s capital within 18 months of his death, giving priority to groups such as LVMH, L’Oréal or EssilorLuxottica, or to “another group of equal standing” identified by the foundation and with Dell’Orco’s agreement. Subsequently, and within three to five years, the plan envisages the sale of an additional 30% to 54.9% stake to the same buyer, or alternatively, the company’s IPO.

The succession model designed by Armani combines family involvement and external supervision. The majority of the Foundation’s board is made up of non-family members, who will act as a counterweight to the heirs in sales decisions and in the continuity of the group.

The entity will also be responsible for proposing the next CEO, as communicated by the group’s executive committee last September, making it the effective power center in the company’s new phase.

The Italian company reduced its turnover by 5% in 2024, to €2.3 billion, hit by the general slowdown in luxury. Europe remained the top market, with 49% of sales, followed by the Americas with 22% and Asia-Pacific with 19%, affected by the slowdown in activity in China.