Poltrona Frau bought by office space giant

Milan’s Poltrona Frau Group, whose luxury interiors division is known to work in the superyacht industry, has been purchased by American workspace specialist, Haworth. The chief shareholders Charme Investments and Moschini Srl have sold their 58.6 per cent stake in the group to Haworth.

Michigan-based Haworth specialises in the design and production of commercial spaces and its in-house product lines include movable walls, chairs, floating floors and communications systems. It currently employs over 6,000 employees worldwide with revenues of $1.4 billion in 2013.

As part of the transaction Haworth will also acquire a 98 per cent stake n the company that owns the factories in Meda that are currently leased to Poltrona Frau.

Franco Moschini, president of Poltrona Frau and controlling shareholder of Moschini S.r.l., said:

“This is for me, the realisation of a big dream - the creation of the most important global operator in the industry of luxury furnishing, which will bring great benefits to the international development of the Group and the consequent growth of our factories and manufacturing sites. This is the crowning achievement of this extraordinary year in which I conclude my first 50 years as president by signing an agreement with another great family of entrepreneurs, in respect of those founding principles that have always characterised our great company.”


Of course, Haworth's speciality is large commercial projects, and SuperyachtNews.com spoke to a Poltrona Frau spokesperson about the possibility that this deal will end the group’s peripheral interest in superyacht interior furnishing.

“The whole Poltrona Frau operation will remain as it is”, the spokesperson said. “[Yachting activity] is not that big for us and, although it’s very early to say whether there will be any changes, and in what direction, we expect things to stay the same.”

Commenting on the rationale behind the decision, Matthew Haworth, chairman of Haworth said: “Our family is very excited about this opportunity. This transaction is not only inspired by the strong performance of the Poltrona Frau Group, and what we believe to be highly complementary strategies, but even more importantly, by the great alignment of the values shared by both our families.”

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