CARDIN ON THE TABLE
PIERRE CARDIN has put his company on the market, hoping to close a deal by the end of June. The 81-year-old designer, who is expected to host one of his annual superlative soirees at his futuristic hillside mansion to celebrate the Cannes Film Festival later this month, has hired the Italian group Multipartner to run the sale with possible interested parties including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and private equity group Cerberus. The company, which has annual turnover of approximately £24 million, is likely to sell for somewhere in the region of £270 million. While the sale is likely to include the fashion house's headquarters in Paris, Milan, Barcelona and Beijing, Cardin will not be giving up his own real estate. And the designer, who has never been shy to proclaim his status as a "fashion leader", is likely to maintain strong ties with the company, despite the sale. "I would like to die with my fashion," he said two years ago. "Yves Saint Laurent stopped. He is free. He is not my cup of tea. He liked to stop, he stopped. I like work, I work." (May 5 2004, AM)
It's a good thing he sets himself apart from Yves St Laurent, cause they're not even comparable... 
