The brand came back with a new company to operate it, 50% held the Panea family, the founders of the business in 1994. Leonardo Shoes Market, the operator of the Leonardo stores, is controlled by the Berende family of Satu Mare, which also owns another shoe retail business, Casa Pielli and indirectly by the Panea family.
The Berende family was first heard of when Leonardo SRL went bankrupt and they were to take over some of the locations where Leonardo stores used to operate. They opened Casa Pielli stores in some those locations and have now been turning them into Leonardos again.
Leonardo SRL of entrepreneur Florin Panea, which operated the footwear retailer by the same name, went bankrupt in the spring of 2015, four and a half years after filing for insolvency.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)