La Perla sold out unprecedented administration by Quantuma

Following a complicated administration, which set five precedents in the process, lingerie retailer La Perla has been sold to new ownership. Professionals from Quantuma oversaw the cross-border sale to US billionaire Peter Kern.

La Perla is an Italian luxury fashion brand, which produces lingerie, nightwear and swimwear. Founded by couturière Ada Masotti in Bologna in 1954, the brand grew into a cross-borders entity with headquarters in London. This complicated matters when, in 2024, La Perla Manufacturing in Italy was declared insolvent, and La Perla Global Management in the UK went into liquidation.

When administrators from Quantuma were appointed to oversee the sale of assets, this presented them with an extremely complex picture. Since the UK withdrew from the European Union, there was no precedent for the cross-border insolvency procedures which the sale of different aspects of the business required.

Andrea Terraneo, senior case administrator at Quantuma, explained that the case set five precedents all at once, in this case. According to Terraneo, this was the first parallel universal and COMI liquidations over the same UK company; the first cross-border insolvency protocol between the United Kingdom and an EU Member State after Brexit; the first coordination of different insolvency procedures opened over members of the same Group in Italy; the first appointment of an agent (equivalent to the foreign representatives under UNCITRAL Model Law) to assist with the negotiations and abridge the different legislations applicable.

It also saw the first adoption, not yet applied, of the EU Cross-Border Insolvency – applying court-to-court cooperation principles by both the High Court of Justice of London and the Insolvency Court of Bologna.

He went on, “At the beginning of this complex case, nobody envisaged such a positive outcome. We proved that the most modern theories on cross-border insolvency can work in practice and can lead to the best outcome for all stakeholders involved. The protocol facilitated an orderly solution for this complex matter, and we are proud that the agreement on the protocol was the key for granting a future to the Bologna employees, the so-called Perline, who are the backbone of this fantastic brand.”

International effort

The transfer of the La Perla Group’s assets to La Perla Atelier, a company controlled by American Peter Kern, was finalised on 30 September 2025. A competitive sale process under Italian law ended in May 2025, with a number of interested parties taking part in the bidding, and saw Kern emerge as the successful bidder.

Quantuma’s Andrew Watling and Duncan Beat, joint liquidators of La Perla Global Management, were similarly pleased with the completion of the sale of La Perla to La Perla Atelier. The deal has enabled a resumption of production at the brand’s main production plant in Bologna and has preserved around 200 jobs in Italy.

The joint liquidators were assisted on the Italian law issues, by CBA Studio Legale e Tributario, with a team led by partner Antonio Martini and associate Alessandro Botti.  Shoosmiths LLP led the English law aspects, including the application for the implementation of the EU Cross-Border Insolvency: Court-To-Court Cooperation Principles, with their team led by partner Lee Sennett and principal associate Harry Rose. They were well supported by Matthew Abraham and Imogen Beltrami of South Square Chambers.

Andrew Watling, Quantuma managing director, added, “The concept of a cross-border protocol is by no means a new one, but the circumstances in this case are unique and required all of the officeholders and their advisors to collaborate to achieve a better outcome for all. This highly desirable outcome demonstrates the power of combining collaboration and determination as the most efficient way for tackling cross-border insolvency and parallel insolvency proceedings of this type. 

“The inception and delivery of the protocol was reached in less than a year from the commencement of the Italian insolvency procedures, and this is undoubtedly down in no small part to the efforts of my Quantuma colleague Andrea Angelo Terraneo… who led the coordination activities with the other procedures, including the negotiations relating to the protocol.”