Lotto
LOTTO, THE ITALIAN BRAND FOR SHOES AND FASHION SINCE 1973
Lotto is an Italian brand of sports shoes and clothing. In 1973 it launched its first line of tennis shoes, then entered the soccer boot market. Since the 1980s it has developed its own products with the collaboration of various famous athletes to study and test the performance of their products: John Newcombe, Boris Becker, Martina Navratilova, Ruud Gullit, Andreas Muster, Demetri Albertini, Ivan Zamorano and Andriy Shevchenko. Lotto combines technological research with sports design. Besides sponsoring teams, it is also a partner of important tennis tournaments, such as Wimbledon and others on the ATP circuit.
It was founded by the three Caberlotto brothers, Giovanni, Sergio, Alberto, one of the historic families of the footwear district, who later also owned the Treviso football team. The double lozenge mark is equivalent to the final portion of the surname Caberlotto while the initial one was used by the three brothers for a plastic ski boot company, Caber, which was then sold to the Americans of Spalding.
Lotto originally produced tennis shoes, which remained the company’s core business throughout the 1970s. Later it also began to market footwear, clothing and accessories for other sports (basketball, volleyball, athletics and football).
ANDREA TOMAT
At the end of the nineties, following the death of two of the three Caberlotto founders, the company was close to the arrangement with creditors and was taken over in June 1999 with a management buy out operation by a consortium of entrepreneurs already active in the sector. sporty.
The consortium is led by Andrea Tomat (Stonefly and ex Lotto), Adriano Sartor (Stonefly), Roberto Danieli (Diadora before selling it to Invicta), Franco Vaccari (first Nordica and then Dolomite), Giancarlo Zanatta (Tecnica), Gianni Lorenzato. Tomat and friends take over the company, beating the competition from Invicta (Diadora) and renaming it Lotto Sport Italia SpA.
THE INTEGRATION BETWEEN THE LOT (280 MILLION REVENUES IN 2016) AND STONEFLY.
In the meantime, the shareholder structure suffers some shocks. 2003 Danieli is released, in 2005 they leave Vaccari and Zanatta. In 2007 Lotto Sport Italia acquired the American brand Etonic, active in technical running, golf and bowling. At the end of 2016 the company, which went through an unhappy economic period returning to profit (about one million euros). Only in 2015 and is proceeding with the restructuring of the exposure to banks (about forty million). Made official the integration between Lotto (280 million in revenues in 2016) and Stonefly (turnover of 80 million).
This is not a merger. The two realities will remain distinct both as a brand and as a legal situation but will optimize a series of functions. Lotto, whose products are distributed in 114 countries around the world, follows sport and fashion, at Stonefly the urban and comfort sectors.
NEW SHIFT TURBULENCE IN
2017 In 2017, new shareholder turbulence. He leaves the former vice president Lorenzato so the ownership of Lotto thus remains completely in the hands of Tomat and Sartor. On 2 August Lorenzato, who held 12%, obtained from an arbitration award of the court of Treviso the attachment of the shares of the former shareholders for a value exceeding 3 million euros in the civil suit filed for violation of the shareholders’ agreements.
The millionaire war goes on: in September Lorenzato asks for the bankruptcy of the financial holding that controls the group, Futura 5760 srl; in November 2018 the Treviso court declared his bankruptcy while Tomat entrusted the appeal to his lawyers. Court decision does not jeopardize the group’s business for now but raises uncertainty about control.
THE SALE TO THE AMERICAN FUND WHP GROUP.
As of 2021, Lotto Sport Italia’s debt amounts to over 100 million euros. The 2019 financial statements already reported a substantial loss of 10.2 million euros due to sales revenues of less than 66 million euros, compared to 79 million the previous year and an estimated debt of 70 million. After a series of negotiations, the Treviso brand has sold its rights to the US fund WHP Global, which already owns the Anne Klein. WHP does not participate in the company shares but allows to pay off at least half of Lotto’s debt exposures.
In this way, management in the main markets remains internal and is led by the CEO and president Andrea Tomat, while the American fund the design, marketing, brand management and product development projects are followed.
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Lotto Sport Italia: il marchio trevigiano nelle mani dell’americano Whp Global
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