Carrera

"The time has come for Luxottica to take another leap forward. Being a parts supplier is not enough for Del Vecchio; others are reaping the benefits of the quality of his work in their finished products. He is ready to produce glasses, he wants to dance alone. This is his moment of "creative destruction," as the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter would define it. Del Vecchio creates that "storm" that allows the industry an evolutionary leap, that process of mutation that revolutionizes the corporate structure from within. He takes no prisoners. He represents the new wave advancing in a rigid sector, breaking patterns and balances. In some way, a natural choice; after years of apprenticeship in the industry, he realized that he could directly produce quality products at a competitive price. He has technical skills honed over the years as a supplier thanks to constant technological innovation, often implemented directly by Del Vecchio himself on the machinery he has available to streamline the production process. An obsession with perfection, convinced of the fact that the only way to grow in a world of giants, from the German company Melzer to the Austrian Carrera, is to offer the best products. It is the first approach to a process of vertical integration that represents for Leonardo a true fixation."

"Del Vecchio returns to his Milan for the first time as a full eyewear producer with his brand, with a product to sell to the world. He is no longer a nobody without skills or trade, he has a hundred families depending on his choices, a villa with a swimming pool. But he is also not considered an emerging star of the industry. He is a small fish, looked down upon with sufficiency by the other sharks of the eyewear sea: Safilo, De Rigo, Lozza, Marcolin, and Persol in Italy. Abroad, German and French glasses dominate. The brands are those of Carrera, Silhouettes, Menrad and Melzer, Amy, and Stylo."

"Advent had competed in the privatisation of Bulgaria’s national telecommunications carrier, Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), and won in an open auction conducted by ING Barings. The bid it lodged through a consortium was the highest but the deal had got stuck and the firm was looking for someone who knew the Bulgarian system to come into the consortium and get things moving. I had not been in telecoms before but I knew Bulgaria. ‘Fine,’ I said, ‘but I want to invest as much as you.’ We structured it so that Advent and the investment consortium Carrera, which I led, both took 25 per cent stakes, with seven other investors making up the remaining 50 per cent. It took two…"

"‘Fine,’ I said, ‘but I want to invest as much as you.’ We structured it so that Advent and the investment consortium Carrera, which I led, both took 25 per cent stakes, with seven other investors making up the remaining 50 per cent. It took two years for us to finalise the acquisition and we had to do some last-minute renegotiating in the prime minister’s office where I was instrumental in coming up with a solution."