Italian private equity firm Clessidra took over 90% of the label from its founder in 2015, in a deal that valued the company at about 390 million euros (£337 million), sources said at the time.

But the new owner was unable to turn around the Italian brand despite appointing a new CEO and a new designer. The group started looking for an investor over a year ago, given that the Clessidra fund holding the Cavalli stake was close to its statutory investment limit, a source had said.

Clessidra and the board of Cavalli chose the Dubai-based company among five other offers. Damac is already a partner of Cavalli in a real estate project in the middle eastern region.

(Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi, editing by Giulia Segreti)