Prada seeks £1bn from Milan listing

FASHION house Prada is hoping to raise nearly £1bn from a secondary listing in Milan, the fashion capital of Italy.

The luxury clothes and leather bag maker, run by husband-and-wife team Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, has hired Goldman Sachs to prepare for a public listing next year.

The news comes despite chairman Paolo Zannoni insisting as recently as last month that a dual listing, was not a priority. Prada first listed a 20pc stake in Hong Kong in 2011 for £1.73bn. Selling new shares in Milan would help it grow.

Prada and Bertelli’s son, Lorenzo, a former rally driver, is tipped for the chief executive role within a couple of years.

The company is charting a more aggressive growth course. It said last year that it was pushing into beauty, home and fine jewellery, raising prices and expanding in the US, Middle and Asia.