Czech billionaire Michal Strnad has offered about €30 billion for Delfin, the Del Vecchio family investment firm that is the key shareholder in EssilorLuxottica. Reuters reported the approach from Milan on October 29th, 2026, citing two people close to the matter.
The answer came the same day. Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, who holds a 12.5% stake in Delfin, said in a statement reported by Reuters that his father's life's work must remain part of Italy's heritage, and he confirmed to Bloomberg that he knew of the offer and would keep protecting what his father built so that ownership of Delfin remains Italian.
What happened
Reuters said the news was first reported by the Italian newspaper Domani, which published a copy of a letter dated October 20th, 2026 setting out the proposal. Bloomberg, which said it had seen the letter, put the offer at about €30 billion ($33.5 billion). Billionaires.Africa converted the same €30 billion figure to $34.8 billion. The dollar translations disagree between outlets, so the only number common to both is the €30 billion itself.
According to Bloomberg, the proposal values Delfin Sarl at a 30% discount to its net asset value and was sent to Delfin Chief Executive Officer Romolo Bardin. Strnad indicated he would also accept a controlling stake of 62.5% rather than the whole company. In the letter he wrote that Delfin fits his investment approach and strategy, and said funding was already secured and no additional financing would be needed.
Why it matters
Delfin is not a single asset. Reuters reported that it holds roughly 32% of EssilorLuxottica, about 10% of Generali, about 17.5% of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, about 2.7% of UniCredit and about 28% of Covivio, a combined current market value of €43 billion. Bloomberg put the market value of Delfin's publicly held holdings at more than €40 billion.
Ad-hoc-news noted that the approach is for the holding company and is not a bid for the listed company itself, EssilorLuxottica, which trades on Euronext Paris under the symbol EL. Our record carries no company statement from EssilorLuxottica on the approach, and the facts available do not describe any share price reaction to it.
More on the listed entity is at /companies/EL.
What the record shows
There is no formal filing here. Representatives for Delfin declined to comment and Strnad did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Bloomberg and Reuters, and no formal filing or public announcement of the offer has been made by Delfin, CSG or EssilorLuxottica. Everything known at this point comes from the letter and from people close to the matter.
Ownership makes the arithmetic hard. Reuters reported that Delfin is split equally among the late Leonardo Del Vecchio's eight heirs, his six children, his widow Nicoletta Zampillo and her son from a previous marriage, each with 12.5%. Il Messaggero reported that a transaction of this kind would need unanimous approval from all eight shareholders, that the first rejections had already arrived, and that Rocco Basilico is understood not to be interested. Bloomberg reported on October 29th, 2026 that Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, 31, had recently offered €3.5 billion for Basilico's stake and was turned down.
What to watch
Il Sole 24 Ore reported Del Vecchio's position in fuller terms: that EssilorLuxottica is the only true Italian champion on the world stage, that it cannot be treated as just any asset, and that Delfin's banking and insurance stakes must stay stable, transparent and in the service of Italian institutions and savers.
Regulators would have a say. Quotidiano Nazionale reported that a change of control at Delfin would require authorisation from the ECB and the Italian insurance regulator IVASS because of the bank and insurance holdings, and that the Italian government could invoke its golden power, while noting that Strnad is a citizen of an EU and NATO country and that Delfin is domiciled in Luxembourg.
Strnad, 34, heads the family defence company Czechoslovak Group, which listed in Amsterdam earlier in 2026, and he bought a 14% stake in Italian tyre maker Pirelli from China's Sinochem this year, Reuters reported. Bloomberg described him as the second richest Czech, with a net worth estimated at $17.5 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and said his CSG NV defence group owns Italian ammunition maker Fiocchi Munizioni.
Reporting on October 29th, 2026 from Reuters, Bloomberg, Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Messaggero, Quotidiano Nazionale, Sky TG24 and Billionaires.Africa.
Informational only, not investment advice.