The Versace family has taken a step forward to sell a stake in the fashion house, inviting private equity investors to make a second round of competitive bids at the end of this month. The bidders for 20 to 30 per cent of Versace include former Gucci owner Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment firm, as well as fund manager Blackstone and London-based Permira, the private equity group that owns Hugo Boss and sold Valentino last year, people with knowledge of the talks said. They also include the Italian strategic fund FSI and Paris-based group Ardian. At the end of last month, those interested parties were asked to give an indicative offer price and detail how they viewed governance with the founding family. They will next meet the management of the company before handing over fresh bids on November 25. Offers for what is one of the last independent Italian luxury brands were expected to exceed €850m, or more than 12 times the level of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, according to one of the people. Versace appointed Goldman Sachs and Intesa Sanpaolo in April to look for new shareholders to inject capital into the business to fund a push into Asia and Latin America. The family, including Donatella Versace, the designer behind the brand since the death of her brother Gianni Versace in 1997, has said the company is looking to sell less than a third of its shares. The family is seeking to raise about €150m to fund expansion, and is also considering selling some of its shares for €50m to €150m, according to people with knowledge of the talks. It is committed to listing the company publicly in about three years. Private equity groups, which typically seek to sell their holdings within three to five years, see potential for the Italian brand as one of the world’s most established on the fashion scene but which lags behind its peers in terms of sales, profit and geographical reach. Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, has noted that Versace had a limited international presence compared with rivals, was overexposed to the ready-to-wear market, and had a "maximalist identity" which runs counter to a trend for "austerity minimalism." Private equity investors observed that the financial recovery of the family-owned company over recent years, under the guidance of chief executive Giangiacomo Ferraris, had been remarkable. The fashion house, which was losing money when Mr Ferraris joined from Jil Sander in 2009, generates ebitda of about €70m. Overall revenues were €408.7m last year, up by a fifth from the previous year, while global sales rose almost two-fifths to €224.5m, after doubling in North America.