Brunello Cucinelli One Step Closer To Milan Listing

Italian cashmere clothing maker Brunello Cucinelli moved one step closer to making the country's first initial public offering this year when it obtained Monday approval from Borsa Italiana, the Milan exchange, to list its stock.

Cucinelli needs only the final approval of market regulator Consob before it can go ahead with its plans to list later this year. Consob usually makes known its decision on an IPO request within days of the one announced by the exchange.

A person familiar with the situation has previously told Dow Jones Newswires that Cucinelli was aiming for a listing in May.

Cucinelli, whose sweaters are worn by Prince William and movie stars such as Daniel Craig, in February filed a request to list a third of its stock.

Mediobanca SpA (MB.MI) is advising Cucinelli, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the global coordinator.

Cucinelli would follow peers Salvatore Ferragamo SpA (SFER.MI), which listed its stock in Milan last June, and Prada SpA (1913.HK), which opted to list in Hong Kong to take advantage of the popularity of Italian fashion brands in Asia.

-By Gilles Castonguay, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]; @GRCastonguay