Qatari group acquires Valentino

London Permira Advisers LLP, the London-based buyout firm, agreed to sell Italian luxury brand Valentino Fashion Group SpA to a group led by Qatari investors.

Mayhoola for Investments SPC, a company backed by an undisclosed private investor group from Qatar, signed the purchase agreement Thursday, Valentino said in an e-mailed statement.

The deal values the couture house at about €700 million (Dh3,13 billion), or 32 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction who declined to be identified.

“Valentino has always been a brand of unique creativity and undisputed prestige,” Mayhoola said in the statement. “We are impressed by the work of the two Creative Directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, and by the management team led by Stefano Sassi.”

Qatari investors have been buyers of European luxury assets in the past. Qatar Holding LLC owns 1.03 percent of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, and in 2010 bought Harrods Ltd., the London-based department store chain, for 1.5 billion euros.

The purchase today of Valentino Fashion Group includes M Missoni and excludes MCS Marlboro Classics. Permira and the Marzotto family’s majority stake in listed German suitmaker Hugo Boss AG isn’t part of the deal, the firm said.

Permira bought Valentino Fashion in May 2007.