Golden Goose, the luxury shoe company backed by Permira, is finally at the starting line for its long-awaited IPO following intensive meetings with investors, five sources familiar with the deal said.

The company has been meeting with investors over the last few weeks to determine a valuation where the IPO will have real momentum, one of the sources said. This source plus another said there was a lot of investors’ interest at a valuation of around 11x 2024 EBITDA.

While price discovery will take place over the course of the IPO marketing process, Permira is confident of going ahead and feels there is a strong investor demand at that level, the first source said.

Golden Goose reported EBITDA of EUR 200m in 2023, according to its last annual report, up 19% from the previous year. The company had net debt of around EUR 479m in 2023.

All sources expected the listing to launch in the next few weeks, giving enough time for the company to run a full IPO process before the European market breaks for summer.

This news service previously reported that Golden Goose had been meeting with investors since January and that Brunello Cucinelli [BIT:BC], Moncler [BIT:MONC], as well as Swiss footwear brand On Holding [NYSE:ONON] were good peers for the company.

Moncler typically trades between 13x and 14x 2024 EBITDA, according to data from Fidessa compiled by Factset.

Two of the sources pointed to Moncler being the most relevant peer for Golden Goose.

Permira declined to comment.