Eccellenza Italiana interviews Giovanni Tamburi: the Italian who unites excellence.

The global capitalist system has not yet invented anything better than being listed on the stock exchange. Excellence is Moncler, excellence is Interpump, excellence is Dexelance. Among our companies we count Italian leaders, world leaders, European leaders. These individual companies all export, all do well, etcetera, but they don't have the strength to open a showroom in New York, open a showroom in Shanghai. And when we decided to invest in OVS, people said 'These people have gone crazy, certainly they don't look too much at the numbers.' If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would become the largest shareholder in a company with 250 startups, I would have said 'We are dreaming.'

But I am an investor, certainly a somewhat particular investor because I chose to adopt a somewhat particular formula: long-term, minority stakes, accompanying companies, a more industrial than financial approach, which many years ago was uncommon, now it is spreading, but certainly in Italy we are number one in this formula in terms of volume invested and we are also among the first in investments in general. There is Cassa Depositi e Prestiti which is certainly the largest Italian investor, then three or four groups, like ours, that have invested 5, 6, 7 billion.

but the emotion is the fact that you give a hand to a company that has potential, that wants to succeed, that has ambitions, but often cannot do it alone. And the idea I had about 30 years ago, i.e., to accompany entrepreneurs, not to do leveraged buyouts that take money out of companies, debts that take money out of companies, etc., but to accompany entrepreneurs in their dreams is truly a great satisfaction. Eh, emotion might be a big word, but certainly when you see companies that, thanks also to us, because they are always at the wheel, make a very important development path, just think of OVS, Ampliphone, Interpump, Moncler, etc., you are really happy.

But the most recent one I am most attached to is OVS, in the sense that we were made fun of a lot when we made the investment. We decided to make the investment because in reality we are recognized more as those in luxury, high-end, like Azimut Benetti, Moncler, Ross Bubois, many high-end companies. And when we decided to invest in OVS, people said these people have gone crazy, what have they decided to do, etc. But it went very well. First of all, it went well because Stefano Beraldo, who had been with us for many years, was a person who listened a lot, he was already ready to make a leap into what I called at the time the future in a new phase of OVS, and so with our contribution, as you who certainly know the OVS stores and all the people who follow, because certainly the largest network of stores in Italy, you may have seen, everything changed because the stores changed, the advertising changed, there are many brands, there is Massimo Piombo, there are really many pieces of a story that, thanks also to us, was able to develop in a certain way. Besides this, now the company earns much more than before, on the stock exchange it is worth much more than before, people are much more satisfied. We gave stock options to many people who just these days have realized very important gains, so many people participate in this party, let's call it, and the satisfaction is very great because the challenge was difficult.

First of all, our formula, i.e., being project accompanists, favors this type of choice, in the sense that we do not have the presumption of being those who replace a company's management, neither at the number one level nor at other levels. Many structures, like ours, put in a CFO as if there were a need to control, to look into the pockets of those on the other side. We do nothing of the sort, but you need luck, you need attention to people. We always say, which is quite true, that we look more at people's faces than at numbers and business plans. Certainly we don't look too much at numbers, and you have to bet on people. For example, Stefano Beraldo was a manager, but he is certainly an entrepreneur, so there we had the luck to bet, to put money on a person I had known for many years, in the sense that he was previously at De'Longhi, when we were also shareholders of De'Longhi, I got to know him, I always liked him very much, he has great grit, great ambition, and by tickling that grit, that ambition, that desire to do more, for example, the story of OVS is very special because it comes from private equity funds, so before us there were private equity funds that stifled its development. There's little to do because filling it with debt, Beraldo always tells that he had to repay in the previous path many hundreds of millions of euros in debt, and so it was always a race for something. But we told him, 'Go ahead, invest, do what you want.' We also had to do a capital increase at a certain point, which in hindsight was totally unnecessary, but it allowed us to be even stronger, even more credible, even more projected towards the future, with no limits to investment, courage, desire to do more, desire to do better.

Excellence is being number one, in the sense that we return to the OVS case, then we'll talk about something else because otherwise it seems we are only here for that. OVS is the largest group of stores between OVS and UPIM in Italy, so after the Post Office or few other things, we are truly number one, and that is already excellence, in the sense that the basic initial philosophy we discussed with management is to say: since you are so widespread that you are practically everywhere, if you give a good product at the right price, they can only buy it. Not only that, but especially in small and medium-sized towns, etc., the local emporium, the small shop, etc., was disappearing, so inserting yourself intelligently into this is excellence. Then excellence is Moncler, excellence is Interpump, excellence is Dexelance, this group in furniture, design and lighting that we are setting up now, for which we made a very important acquisition in recent days that touches online, that also touches digital distribution, and so these are excellences, they are being number one. Among our companies we count Italian leaders, world leaders, European leaders, that is excellence. Then excellence must be in the product, because for you to be excellent as a company, you must have a product that, if not unique, is very, very rare, very well positioned, very well appreciated by the market, and indeed the case of Moncler is unique. Azimut Benetti, the largest producer of yachts over 24 meters for more than 20 years, and if that is not excellence, where is it?

But first of all, everything is born from a passion of mine and my wife Alessandra for homes, design, furniture, architecture, etc. We have always dedicated a lot of time to this passion, and over the years TIP has invested in Rossbis, which is the largest high-level retailer in the world, in the sense that we have 340 stores in the best locations worldwide, and certainly it is an absolute excellence recognized internationally. Then we also invested in Azimut Benetti, Moncler, and other things, and we had also invested in Guzzini. Guzzini lighting was certainly a leader, it is absolutely a leader, and years ago, due to a series of essentially family issues, it was decided to sell to a Swedish group that made us an excellent offer, and so it is one of the very few exits we have made. We tend to want to stay in companies of the future; we are not those who sell as soon as things get a bit better and take money home. We are not interested. We are more interested in the industrial project. When iGuzzini was sold to the Swedes, Andrea Sasso, the CEO, clearly did not want to become an employee, so to speak, of the Swedish group, so he left and joined a company, a small group called IDB, Italian Design Brands. Italian Design Brands had the ambition to turn small Italian companies, small and medium-sized Italian companies in the lighting, design, furniture sector, into an important hub.

This made me very curious. I tried to combine personal passions with the existence of this group that already had ten companies within it. It was founded by two dear friends who had clearly somewhat completed a development path, and so we decided together to list it on the stock exchange, even though it was very difficult because 2 years ago, as today, listing a company is difficult, and then maybe if you want we can come back to it because it's a very important aspect, and to accelerate development, to increase the presence of this company, this group in various sectors. So we put these things together, and I immediately thought to change the name because IDB is a small acronym, with all respect a bit like 'B-grade accountants', so we entrusted the study to a specialized agency, we wanted to combine design, luxury, elegance, experience, etc. This name came out, which some criticize because it is not Italian or does not sound Italian, but actually it perfectly identifies what we want to be and in my opinion it was the right step. So with the listing on the stock exchange, the acceleration of development and this name change, in addition to the fact that we invested about 100 million, but we are ready to invest much more, both directly as TIP and as Club Deal, which we often adopt in these formulas, we believe we have given a great boost to a sector that represents one of the most important worlds in Italy and the world. You who deal with excellences, it is clear that if there is no design, furniture, lighting, it is a huge problem. So we believe that this hub, which now with the two acquisitions made has around 400 million in revenue, can be a candidate to become the great high-end hub in these sectors in the world. This sector is worth 45-50 billion in the world, Italy accounts for a quarter of that 45-50 billion, and well, we must have a number one.