Del Vecchio’s legacy, from the Moneikos yacht to the building on the Lungotevere: here is the inventory – Corriere.it

The big financial matches are in full swing. From Mediobanca to Generali, Delfin, the safe house of the Del Vecchio family, will play a key role in the future governance arrangements and in the structures of the two companies. Much will also depend on the orientations of the heirs of the founder of Luxottica, who are concluding the succession process.

The hierarchy of creditors

Saturday first July in Official Gazette Leonardo Del Vecchio’s “hierarchy of creditors” has been published, as imposed by the inheritance acceptance procedure with benefit of inventory activated by Luca Del Vecchio, Clemente’s brother, the youngest of the Knight’s six children, born from union with Sabina Grossi. This is the «Graduation status of the credits relating to the inheritance of the Cav. Leonardo Del Vecchio (pursuant to article 499 of the Civil Code) which are placed in progressive order of satisfaction, within the limits of the hereditary assets», is written in Journal. In fact, there remains one last chapter to close. The overall succession was in fact concluded immediately, in substance, since July of a year ago, with the assignment of the shares of Delfin to the eight heirs who each have 12.5% ​​of the holding, a perimeter that contains almost all of the founder’s estate.

The bequests to the widow Zampillo

In succession only 25% of the safe still owned by Del Vecchio went, bequeathed to the widow Nicoletta Zampillo who later transferred half of the share to her son Rocco Basilico. The others were already in the bare ownership of Del Vecchio’s six children. «I establish universal heirs, in equal parts to each other – Del Vecchio wrote in his will – my children Claudio, Marisa, Paola, Leonardo Maria, Luca and Clemente, who have been benefited by me during their lifetime, taking into account that, at the at the time of the opening of the succession, they will have full ownership of a shareholding equal to approximately 12,5 % of the share capital of the company Delfin, based in Luxembourg.’ The founder also bequeathed the majestic Villa La Leonina in Beaulieu Sur-Mer, near Nice, and the house in the retreat of Antigua, in the Caribbean, to Mrs. Zampillo. Including “furniture, objets d’art and movable property in general, which are contained in our marital home”. But here the transition was easier because both belonged directly to Del Vecchio.

The last chapter

Now this last chapter concerns the other bequests included in the will, which must be performed by the heirs: the division of inheritance taxes, the transfer of two houses owned by Delfin, valued at 77 million, to the widow Nicoletta Zampillo – the apartments of Milan, in Piazza San Fedele, and the building on Lungotevere Marzio in Rome, and the assignment of 2.15 million EssilorLuxottica shares to the CEO Francesco Milleri, as a sign of gratitude for the work done by the manager who has contributed to making EssilorLuxottica, and for the deep personal bond, and 22,000 titles to manager Romolo Bardin. The inventory in fact triggers the possibility of collecting the assets and paying the debts, without however all the heirs being required to personally pay the excess which could be worth around 40 million each for each of Del Vecchio’s six children. An amount that corresponds to less than 1% of Delfin’s total assets.

«Most credits will be satisfied»

As at 26 June, hereditary assets amounting to 120 million had been liquidated. However, there are still several assets to be sold – including the Moneikos yacht, the 62-metre yacht that belonged to Del Vecchio – which will be able to replenish the sum available to pay off debts. The document thus states that most of the credits will be satisfied, including the transfer of two villas to Mrs. Zampillo. As for the claims deriving from the “mandatory” bequests, they will be paid within the limits of the residual hereditary assets, once their liquidation has been completed and the exact amount of the claims has been determined. This category includes, inter alia, the transfer of a first portion of 1.75 million of Essilux shares to Milleri (estimated value of 269.5 million), the payment of 75% of the inheritance taxes deriving from the bequests to Rocco Basilico and Nicoletta Zampillo and a stake of 18 thousand Essilux shares for Bardin. On the other hand, the reimbursement of inheritance taxes payable by Milleri and Bardin for the share bequests was not admitted to the liabilities, as they were deemed «inexistent and/or unfounded and/or extraneous to the liquidation procedure of the inheritance», taxes which they amount respectively to 56.2 million and 581 thousand euros. However, the procedure has not yet been concluded and also touches on the question of the amount owed to the Treasury for the inheritance.

Del Vecchio’s will

According to Del Vecchio’s will, all six children will have to pay off these debts in the logic that has always guided the entrepreneur, that of a family that must decide together and share everything. “There aren’t any problems, we’re just getting to know each other better,” Claudio and Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio declared together during the Essilux assembly in May. Here the future moves of the heirs are grafted. The gap between assets and liabilities could be bridged by Delfin distributing a larger dividend than in the past. The safe actually ended 2022 with a net profit that grew by 70% to around 650 million. Liquidity flows that indicate how the Del Vecchio family holding company is at the head of a network of industries that grind growth and cash: from EssilorLuxottica to the Covivio real estate company up to the shares in Mediobanca, Generali and UniCredit. Here too, the size of the coupon will depend on the agreement that Del Vecchio’s children will find. Decisions in this sense require a “strengthened” quorum. That is to say that the agreement of two thirds of the capital is required which, translated, means the go-ahead of six out of eight heirs.

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