Alsara Investment Group Takes a Stake in Italian Design Firm Giorgetti, Eyes Further Investments

MILAN — Rachid Mohamed Rachid’s Alsara Investment Group has made a key acquisition in the world of Italian design, and this may just be the beginning.

On Thursday, Iuxury Italian furniture firm Giorgetti Group said it has been acquired by a group of shareholders led by asset management firm Solida Capital and which includes investment firms Alsara Investment Group and Vivium. Both Solida Capital and Vivium are based in Dubai, while Alsara Investment Group is an international private investment company based in Switzerland that was ‎founded by Rachid, an Egyptian entrepreneur. He is also chairman of Valentino and chief executive officer of Valentino‘s parent company Mayhoola, which also owns Balmain and Pal Zileri.

Rachid’s daughter, managing director Alia Rachid, said the family-run investment firm intends to expand its reach in the Italian design sector with this key acquisition.

“We will continue to invest and anchor ourselves in Milan-based luxury furniture brands, aiming to grow them through connecting them with talents globally, in this respect Giorgetti is a leader in the luxury design of furniture and we will be looking forward to working together with the management team to grow the brand globally,” she said in a statement.

The consortium took over the firm from Italian private equity group Progressio SGR, which had run the group since 2015.

Giorgetti said the entire management team will be staying. Solida Capital and Vivium will enter the new board of directors.

Giorgetti’s retail spans from Boston and Washington, D.C., to Doha, Qatar. Through Vivium, it will soon open in Dubai. Giorgetti was founded in the late 1890s by Luigi Giorgetti with a little shop in Meda, Italy, amid the furniture-making heartland of Brianza, with about eight workers. In 1898 he built his first factory and by the 1920s he had already broken into the U.S., becoming a successful exporter, introducing semi-finished carved products to the market for the first time.

The luxury home firm’s CEO Giovanni del Vecchio said Giorgetti has grown exponentially and doubled its sales over the last decade.

“With the new corporate structure, we are ready to further strengthen our identity by continuing to invest in excellence, innovation and internationalization,” he said.