Temasek to buy a 5% stake in Italian luxury group Ermenegildo Zegna
The shares will come from the company's treasury shares, and, combined with Temasek's share purchases on the open market, will bring Temasek's stake to 10 per cent after the transaction is completed on Jul 30.
The cash consideration will add to Ermenegildo Zegna's balance sheet and enable the company to seize selected opportunities for organic growth of its brand portfolio.
Ermenegildo 'Gildo' Zegna, chairman and chief executive officer of the luxury fashion brand, said: 'This investment is a strong endorsement of our vision and long-term growth potential, while firmly recognising the global significance of the Italian luxury sector.'
Nagi Hamiyeh, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Temasek, is expected to join Ermenegildo Zegna's board of directors in June 2026.
The customer base of the fashion house comprises high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) who have been more resilient in their spending. A BCG report noted that this segment spends more than 50,000 euros (S$74,380) a year on luxury brands; the wealthiest top-tier clients comprise just 1 per cent of the personal luxury goods market, but generate 22 per cent of the value.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
Aspiration consumers, which make up 60 per cent of the market, have faltered in recent years, but the big spenders have consistently grown their expenditure. The segment is set to grow from about 940,000 HNWIs, holding about 68 trillion in wealth in 2024, to about 1.4 million HNWIs in 2030, with about 100 trillion in wealth.
This group is also growing in confidence. Half of them say they expect to increase spending by between 5 and 25 per cent over the next 18 months.
Temasek will bring its experience in the luxury sector and knowledge of the Asian market to Ermenegildo Zegna under this deal. The state investor will also support expansion in key geographies where the company's presence is underdeveloped.
Hamiyeh said: 'Our investment in them underscores our ongoing commitment to support leading European businesses with strong track records and global potential.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
11 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Paris' Montmartre battles overtourism post-Olympics
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Artists create portraits of tourists on the street in Montmartre, Paris, France, July 29, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo PARIS - Residents of Montmartre in Paris are sounding the alarm over overtourism, fearing their picturesque hilltop neighbourhood could become the next Barcelona or Venice, as tourist numbers spike following last year's Olympic Games. While Paris has so far avoided the large-scale protests seen in Spain and Italy, some of its most iconic areas are starting to feel the strain. Stringent housing regulations and the city's size have helped, but locals who live on the cobbled streets of Montmartre say change is urgently needed. Anne Renaudie, who has lived in the area for 29 years and heads the Vivre à Montmartre association, said the historic quarter made famous by the 2001 film "Amelie" now resembles a theme park. "People come for three hours, have fun, buy a beret or a crepe, and leave — as if they were in an amusement park," she told Reuters. Meanwhile, essential food shops for residents are vanishing, replaced by snack stands and souvenir stalls. "We're down to two or three butchers, two cheese shops. They're disappearing one after the other," she said. "Now it's a lot of ice cream, crepes, taco places." Her association has proposed measures to the town hall similar to those in other European tourist hotspots: limiting tour groups to 25 people, banning loudspeakers, and raising the tourist tax. Tourism in the Paris region reached 48.7 million visitors in 2024, with about 11 million visiting Montmartre annually, largely to see the photogenic Sacre-Coeur basilica. The narrow streets have become clogged with tour groups, leaving locals frustrated. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Asia US-Malaysia tariff deal set for Aug 1 after Trump-Anwar phone call Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' "Sometimes I have to really raise my voice and say, 'Sorry, I want to pass'," said Anthea Quenel, 44, a mother of two and local resident. And things may only get busier. Paris officials say 2025 is shaping up to be a bumper tourist year, with a 20% rise in January bookings over the same month last year. Eric Lejoindre, mayor of the 18th arrondissement, which includes Montmartre, said rising housing prices could drive residents out. "For me, the big issue is housing. That means fighting against Airbnb and rental platforms," he said. Real estate prices in Montmartre have risen 19% over the past decade, according to website A 40-square-metre apartment near Place du Tertre can now fetch around 500,000 euros ($572,000). To address this, Paris has tightened short-term rental rules, reducing the annual limit on renting out a primary residence from 120 to 90 days. Even small things, like the cost of a scoop of ice cream — which can set you back 5 euros, reflect the shift from neighbourhood to tourist zone. "It's like Disneyland," Quenel lamented. REUTERS
Straits Times
11 minutes ago
- Straits Times
No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding Singapore-bound ships, flights
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox As of June 30, ICA said some 93 million travellers have cleared immigration without needing to present their passports. SINGAPORE – High-risk or undesirable travellers who pose a health, security, or immigration threat to Singapore will soon be denied the chance to board air or sea transport to travel here. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will be able to issue no-boarding directives (NBDs) to transport operators to prevent such travellers from boarding ships and flights bound for Singapore. ICA plans to roll out the NBDs to prevent arrivals at air checkpoints from 2026 and at sea checkpoints from 2028. Transport operators who fail to comply with an NBD can be fined up to $10,000. The move comes in the wake of the Immigration (Amendment) Act that came into force on Dec 31, 2024. An initial plan, first reported in 2023 , to weed out such passengers travelling into Singapore through land checkpoints faced roadblocks, as the proposal would have required bus operators to collect and submit passenger information in advance. Bus operators with routes across the Causeway had told The Straits Times in 2023 that the plan to submit in advance passenger information to ICA could be difficult to implement and might affect business. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Asia US-Malaysia tariff deal set for Aug 1 after Trump-Anwar phone call Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' On July 31, ICA said that while collecting passenger and crew information in advance has been the norm for airline and ship operators, such information is generally not readily available at land checkpoints. ST understands the authorities are still looking into ways to implement similar measures at land checkpoints. Meanwhile, enhancements to Singapore's border security, including through new profiling and detection capabilities, have allowed ICA to identify more high-risk travellers before their arrival to Singapore. This has translated into a 43 per cent increase in the number of foreigners refused entry into the Republic in the first half of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024 . People who can be denied entry include those who had been previously barred from entering Singapore after being convicted of certain crimes. On July 31, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam attended the official opening of the ICA services centre (ISC) in Crawford Street. The centre, which came into service in April, is adjacent to the previous ICA building. Mr Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, said ICA's transformation comes at a time of increasing traveller volumes across the nation's borders. He pointed out that traveller volumes through Singapore's checkpoints increased to 230 million passengers in 2024, compared with the 197 million who passed through the Republic's borders in 2015. Mr Shanmugam said traveller volume is expected to increase further with the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System that is expected to be operational in December 2026; the Changi Airport Terminal 5 slated to open by the mid-2030s; and the expansion of Woodlands Checkpoint over the next 10 to 15 years. He said: 'But the limitation is that ICA's manpower cannot grow indefinitely, so we have been drawing more on technology to cope with this demand and to really navigate the more complex security environment.' To that end, ICA said it has achieved its vision to transform checkpoint clearance operations by becoming among the first border agencies in the world to implement passport-less immigration clearance. This was part of ICA's New Clearance Concept that was first announced in 2019, to provide faster and more secure immigration clearance. All travellers to and from Singapore can now clear immigration in an automated, passport-less process. This involves a facial or iris biometric scan at air and sea checkpoints, or clearance using a QR-code for those travelling through land checkpoints. As of June 30, ICA said some 93 million travellers have cleared immigration without needing to present their passports. Mr Shanmugam said the implementation of QR-code clearance has been a game-changer for those travelling through Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints, with clearance time being reduced by up to 30 per cent from before. ICA is also planning to roll out its automated passenger clearance system (APCS) at the Tuas Checkpoint for those travelling in cars, motorcycles and cargo vehicles by end-2026, without the need to use counters manned by officers. ICA said the automated process will allow them to operate more efficiently. The APCS will be implemented at Woodlands Checkpoint at a later time. The authority said around 95 per cent of its services have gone digital, and more than 95 per cent of the public are submitting their applications online. Superintendent Kalaivanan Pannerchilvam, deputy director of customer operations at ICA, said: 'A key feature of the ISC is the self-collection kiosks, where eligible customers can collect their passports and identity cards via these kiosks, anytime within the date of appointment.' Those using the kiosks will need to input their personal identification information, and complete iris verification before collecting their documents. Customers can collect both their passports and identity cards on the same day in one transaction at the kiosk. The self-collection kiosks are part of the ISC's Integrated Smart Document Management system, which was launched in July. The retrieval and delivery of documents, which was previously managed by ICA officers, are now done by robots.
Straits Times
11 minutes ago
- Straits Times
New Zealand ends Ardern-era ban on oil and gas exploration
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses Yale's graduates on Class Day, a day before commencement ceremonies, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. May 18, 2025. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo New Zealand's parliament on Thursday passed legislation to reopen the country for offshore oil and gas exploration, lifting a ban imposed by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The law will allow companies to apply as early as September for petroleum exploration permits beyond onshore Taranaki, an energy-rich region on the country's North Island. Environmental groups said the decision to restart exploration was a setback for the country's transition to renewable energy. 'This government keeps choosing to undermine our resilience rather than transition to clean, green energy,' said Green Party Climate spokesperson Chloe Swarbrick. In 2018, the centre-left Labour government led by Ardern halted the granting of new offshore oil and gas exploration permits in a bid to tackle climate change and reduce New Zealand's reliance on fossil fuels. Since winning power in late 2023, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's conservative government has passed numerous measures rolling back Labour's progressive agenda, including repealing rebates for green cars and fast-tracking mining projects. Resources Minister Shane Jones, an advocate for the fossil fuel sector, said Ardern's ban had reduced new investment in the oil and gas sector and exacerbated domestic energy shortages. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Asia US-Malaysia tariff deal set for Aug 1 after Trump-Anwar phone call Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' 'This government is pragmatic about the vital role natural gas will play in our energy mix in the decades ahead and we have set a course for greater energy security backed by our own indigenous reserves,' Jones said. The bill passed by 68 votes to 54. REUTERS
