Both of Zara's attempts to enter the Italian market had been orchestrated through joint ventures, because of the planning and retailing regulations that made it hard to secure the location and the multiple licenses required to open a new store. An initial joint venture agreement with Benetton, formed in 1998, failed to overcome this difficulty and was later dissolved. Over roughly the same timeframe, Benetton apparently secured a large bank loan and launched an aggressive campaign, particularly in Italy, to open up directly managed megastores of its own that were much larger than the third-party stores that it had traditionally licensed. In 2001 ,Inditex formed a 51:49 joint venture with Percassi, an Italian group specializing in property and fashion retail premises and one of Benetton's largest licensees, to enable expansion in Italy. This second joint venture resulted in the opening of Zae's first store in Milan in April 2002-at 2500 square meters, the largest Zara store in Europe and a major media event. Inditex and Percassi reportedly planned to add 70-80 Zara stores in Italy over the next 10 years.