By Carl Jackson, Chairman and Andrea Terraneo, Senior Administrator, Quantuma
La Perla is an Italian luxury fashion brand founded in Bologna in 1954. It is globally recognised for its lingerie, nightwear and swimwear, with many of its products handcrafted by specialist Italian embroiderers. The production base and workforce
in Italy are central to the brand’s identity and commercial value.
The heritage of La Perla in Bologna is also a source of local pride. Preserving continuity at the manufacturing site carried both economic and social significance for stakeholders, including employees, unions and creditors. Any fragmented liquidation or
asset break-up would have posed a significant risk to the value of the enterprise. This consideration shaped the approach taken throughout the restructuring.
When La Perla entered insolvency, it was clear this would not be a typical liquidation process. The business was split across two countries. Intellectual property and corporate control sat in the UK, while manufacturing, day-to-day operations and the majority of employees were in Italy.
While it is common for large brands to have a presence in multiple countries, the La Perla situation created immediate complexity. After the UK left the EU in 2020, the framework that once allowed insolvencies to flow across borders had disappeared. As a result, authority was unclear, control was divided, and decisions could not be taken in one place.
Quantuma, as the Joint Liquidators of La Perla’s UK entity, had a challenge on its hands.
Competing proceedings
Due to ongoing financial issues and a £2.8m unpaid tax bill, La Perla entered liquidation in the UK and Italy at the same time. That created immediate conflict. UK and Italian courts could both assert jurisdiction, with each able to appoint its own officeholders. Since Brexit, there was no built-in mechanism to decide which process should lead.
The Italian side took a firm position. Due to the brand’s heritage – and the fact that the majority of La Perla’s workforce is based in Bologna – the Italian courts independently assessed jurisdiction and argued that the company’s centre of main interests lay in Italy, not the UK. The result was parallel primary proceedings with no coordination or alignment. The insolvency also attracted the attention of the Ministry of Industry and Made in Italy from an early stage which exerted some form of control over the entire process.
Brexit meant that all parties were in uncharted territory. Before it, insolvency proceedings were recognised automatically across the EU. But now that the system no longer applied, recognition had to be sought in each jurisdiction.
Fragmented control
The group structure made the situation harder to manage. Ownership and intellectual property were held in one jurisdiction. Manufacturing capability and workforce were in another. That split limited what any one party could do. Officeholders could not act across the full business. Decisions taken in one country could not be enforced in the other without further legal steps.
Recognition did not fix this. Even where UK proceedings were recognised in Italy, the fact that the Italian Liquidation judgment predated the recognition judgment meant that the Joint Liquidators still lacked the powers needed to manage assets, employees, or operations independently from the Italian office holders. Additionally, the legal vacuum post-Brexit meant there was no automatic right to deal with assets located in another jurisdiction.
This created practical barriers at every stage:
- Assets could not be transferred or managed freely
- Information was harder to access across jurisdictions
- Operational decisions required coordination that did not exist
At the same time, the case involved multiple proceedings and entities, each with its own priorities. The business could not be treated as a single unit, but if there was any chance of preserving its value (and around 200 jobs in Bologna), Quantuma had to find a way to do exactly that.
High stakes
Without coordination, the likely outcome was fragmentation, with assets sold off separately, intellectual property detached from operations, and a prolonged legal battle both in England and in Italy which would have greatly reduced the value of the enterprise and of the brand. However, in La Perla’s case, there were even greater risks.
The manufacturing site in Bologna was central to the brand. It relied on a specialist workforce of skilled embroiderers and a production capability that had operated for decades. If production were to stop, the impact would be immediate. Restarting again later would be a massive challenge. A further issue was that La Perla was an Italian fashion icon, with the business carrying economic and social importance in Italy. Employees, unions and public authorities all had an interest in the outcome.
These factors meant that the case was not driven by financial considerations alone. Preserving jobs and maintaining production mattered as much as maximising recoveries. Delays increased risk, and misaligned decisions would reduce the chance of preserving the business as a whole.
A perfect storm
The La Perla insolvency brought together several challenges at once:
- The business was split across countries, with both sides having an interest in controlling the outcome
- The lack of a recognised insolvency mechanism since Brexit had led to competing jurisdictions and parallel proceedings
- There were human considerations behind the numbers that needed to be resolved
None of these issues could be addressed in isolation. Before any sale or restructuring could take place, the parties involved had to find a way to manage them together.
Get the full story
Quantuma has compiled a detailed case study on the La Perla insolvency.
Download your copy of the La Perla Whitepaper here.
Here to help
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Rehan Ahmed, Managing Director, Quantuma
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