Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio – the billionaire Ray-Ban heir known for his love of Ferraris and nightclubs – has reportedly launched a roughly $33 billion takeover bid for the family holding company.
The 31-year-old nightclub owner presented his proposal regarding the Luxembourg company Delfin Sarl in a letter on Monday. The deal is backed by a nearly $25 billion loan from Citigroup, according to Bloomberg and Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra.
Leonardo Maria — one of the heirs of the late EssilorLuxottica founder Leonard Del Vecchio — recently told the Post that his ex-fiancee, soap opera star Jessica Serfaty, told him she was pregnant but didn’t know if he was the father.
The billionaire claimed he chartered private jets to fly Serfaty and a team of doctors for paternity tests, including one aboard his yacht, which ultimately indicated he was not the father.
The prodigal son also said during a podcast appearance with Italian rapper Fedez that he was a drug addict and had slept with more than 2,000 women.
He is offering 3.7 billion euros, or about $4 billion, to buy out each of his seven Delfin co-owners, including his five siblings, his half-brother and his mother, Corriere della Serra reported.
It is the latest development in the real-life ‘Succession’ family feud over future control of the EssilorLuxottica eyewear fortune, which includes Oakley, LensCrafters and Ray-Ban, as well as stakes in banking and insurance companies like UniCredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The company’s publicly disclosed holdings are valued at around $50 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Michal Strnad – a Czech arms magnate worth an estimated $13.5 billion, according to Forbes – also threw his hat in the ring with a proposal worth around $33 billion to buy the company.
EssilorLuxottica did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Leonardo Maria has become his family’s most vocal critic of EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri, who he blamed for the stock’s poor performance – down more than 32% since the start of the year. The company has a market value of 86.91 billion euros, or more than $97 billion.
The billionaire heir is seeking a dominant position over the family dynasty, seeking to increase his stake from 12.5% to 37.5% and arguing that it would bring greater stability to the company. The elder Del Vecchio – who died in June 2022 – left a 12.5% stake in Delfin to each of his heirs.
But Leonardo Maria recently failed to gain board support for the loans needed to buy out a combined 25% stake held by siblings Luca and Paola for 10 billion euros, or about $11.2 billion.
His most recent attempt to buy out his half-brother Rocco Basilico was also rejected by the board.
In his letter on Monday, Leonardo Maria wrote that his new proposal includes financial support from an unidentified international institution. He said he would be ready to present the terms of the agreement to stakeholders on November 7.
The Citigroup loan bears interest at a rate of 1.75%, according to Corriere.
Leonardo Maria said the buyout of shares would have strengthened governance rules and a binding status, adding that it would be accompanied by two professionals “with long managerial, legal and financial experience” who will provide binding advice on the most important decisions.
His offer would be just below the price offered by Strnad on October 20.
In 2023, Leonardo Maria got engaged to Jessica Serfaty – an American model and former girlfriend of actor Ed Westwick, influencer Logan Paul and former One Direction band member Niall Horan.
The couple broke off the engagement in 2024, with Serfaty accusing Del Vecchio of physical assault. She quickly withdrew her allegations, but later told The New York Times that she only did so because she was pressured by Del Vecchio and her lawyer, insisting that her then-fiance had hit her. Del Vecchio did not comment on the abuse allegations at the time.
Del Vecchio told the Post that the allegations damaged his reputation and complicated business relationships involving EssilorLuxottica and Delfin. He said he hoped the paternity test results would help clear his name, although he declined to specify which business relationships were affected.
Gn bussni
