San Miniato, 20 February 2024 – The Tre Zeta Group, a reference point in the production of luxury shoe soles for over 50 years, continues its growth through the acquisition of 100% of Tacchificio Pienne, a company specialising in the production of heels, wedges, wooden clogs and accessories for women’s formal footwear, with which the Group further strengthens its control of the formal shoe value chain and its offer of products, materials and services to customers.
Founded in 1966 in Montevarchi (Arezzo), by Duilio and Sira Palazzini, Pienne specialises in the production of heels and wooden clogs for women’s footwear for the world’s leading luxury brands. Starting in 1985, the second generation, formed by the children Antonella, Mauro and Massimo Palazzini, as well as Roberta Nistri and Raffaella Calò, began a structured growth path focused more and more on the excellence of a completely Made in Italy product, thanks to the use of exclusively Italian raw materials. Over the years, Pienne has combined quality and craftsmanship with a deep commitment to innovation, investing not only in machinery and technology, but also in the optimisation of all phases of the production process, and a focus on sustainability. The company, which now has around 30 employees, closed 2022 with a turnover of around €8 million, growing between 2019 and 2022 with a CAGR of 16%.
“With this operation, we complete the presidium of the formal footwear structure, an important milestone that we have achieved by integrating innovative and sustainable processes, both in terms of materials and components and products. The ultimate objective of our development strategy is the creation of a Group capable of representing a single ‘one-stop-shop’ interlocutor for luxury brands, satisfying all needs in the realisation of the creativity of their stylists thanks to the know-how of the best excellences in the sector, which allow us to offer increasingly high standards of service and improve performance in terms of product, timing and sustainability. Also for this symbolic value of the operation, which closes the first cycle of growth in the sector, I am particularly pleased to welcome the Palazzini family and their entire team to Tre Zeta,” commented Fabrizio Mecheri, CEO of Tre Zeta Group.
Massimo Palazzini, representing the entire family that leads Tacchificio Pienne, adds: “We have found in Tre Zeta a partner with whom we share a long-term strategic vision oriented towards quality and innovation, and with whom we are confident we will be able to collaborate to grow further, bringing our long and recognised experience within the Group. Together, by integrating our products and know-how, we will be able to create important synergies to the benefit of all’.
Marco Morgese, Founding Partner of Koinos Capital, concludes: “This is the fifth transaction since our entry into Tre Zeta, an important milestone that comes even faster than we had imagined. It is an excellent sign because, in addition to reconfirming the management’s ability, it confirms our vision of the need and desire that so many excellent entrepreneurs have to become part of a very ambitious and solid industrial project that will lead us to create the Group of reference in the footwear sector for all luxury brands. Now that the first part of presiding over the supply chain has been completed, we will be able to look at the numerous proposals coming to us with a view to further consolidating the individual segments”.
Following this acquisition, the Group is preparing to inaugurate a new product development office at the Montelupo Fiorentino site, which will house all sole, heel and insole processing. This will offer customers a single, fully integrated interlocutor for all components of the shoe structure, speeding up development times and further raising service standards. A strategy that will enable the Group to further consolidate the robust growth trend achieved in 2023.
The industrial plan that the Group is rapidly implementing started at the end of 2021 with the entry into Tre Zeta of Koinos Capital – an independent Private Equity company that stands out for its entrepreneurial approach with investments geared towards transforming small Italian industrial excellences into international leaders – and today, just over two years later, it has generated important results.
The acquisition of Pienne is the fifth since Koinos Capital’s entry in 2021, and follows those of Walking World (a company from the Marche region specialising in the production of fussbets and fillers for polyurethane foam and film soles), Solettificio Do.Gi. (specialising in the production of insoles for women’s formal footwear); Stil Stampi (excellence in the production of aluminium moulds for soles) and Suolificio Magonio (a leading company in soles for the formal world).
Tre Zeta Group was assisted by Russo De Rosa Associati for the tax due diligence, Alpeggiani Studio Legale for the legal due diligence, Bernoni Grant Thornton for the financial due diligence and Ramboll for the environmental due diligence.