Italy's Prada plans for June IPO-WSJ

NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Italian luxury fashion house Prada has scheduled its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) for June, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The report, quoting a source familiar with the matter, said the company was planning to list despite worries of a U.S. economic slowdown spreading to Europe's luxury market. The source was quoted as saying the IPO was scheduled for the latter half of June.

Prada, whose designer Miuccia Prada is known to set trends in clothing, shoes and handbags, has said it aims to list in 2008. In December, it said it had appointed banks to coordinate the deal. The company has previously ditched listing plans due to market volatility. "There is nothing new to what we said in December, which is that we are considering an IPO for 2008, and there is no schedule yet," a Prada spokesman in Milan said on Thursday.

"We are meeting with our advisers and we will be evaluating the timing in due course." (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Milan)