Italian shoe firm takes major stake in train company
27/04/2012
The company, Del Gatto, based in Porto San Elpidio in the footwear-making region of Le Marche, has been specialising in high-end fashion footwear for women since 1974.
As part of a group of companies called Go Concept, it has entered the winning bid for Arenaways, a private passenger and freight railway company operating in the north-west of Italy. Del Gatto’s involvement with Go Concept gives it a 67% stake in the train company.
Founded in 2006 by an experienced figure in the Italian railway industry, Giuseppe Arena, Arenaways went into administration in August 2011. Go Concept’s successful bid to take it over came as a relief to Mr Arena, who remains on board with a 3% share of the business and will continue to act as its chief executive.
On announcing that Del Gatto and Go Concept had been successful, Mr Arena said: “These have been long months of hard work to save the company, to make sure all our employees can keep their jobs, and to keep this ambitious but real project going. In the end, thanks to the efforts of a group of people who have managed to achieve the impossible, we can finally say that we are ready to depart. With Go Concept, we have brought together a group of true entrepreneurs with clear ideas and precise goals.”
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