Swatch Group purchase Harry Winston for $750 million, Renzo Rosso takes a controlling stake in Marni & Labelux sells Solange Azagury-Partridge back to its founder
RETAIL
The Latest Investments: Harry Winston, Marni & Labelux
This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Swatch Group purchase Harry Winston for $750 million, Renzo Rosso takes a controlling stake in Marni & Labelux sells Solange Azagury-Partridge back to its founder
Swatch Group purchase Harry Winston for $750 million, Renzo Rosso takes a controlling stake in Marni & Labelux sells Solange Azagury-Partridge back to its founder
Bought: Harry Winston, Swatch Group
The Swatch Group has acquired 100% of the shares of the US company HW Holdings, owner of fine jewellery brand Harry Winston, in a deal worth $750 million plus the assumption of up to $250 million of pro forma net debt. The Swatch Group Ltd. now controls the brand and all activities related to jewellery and watches, including the 535 employees worldwide and the production company in Geneva.
Source: Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie
Speculation: Investindustrial, Aston Martin
Private equity fund Investindustrial is said to be near agreement to buy a stake in British sports-car manufacturer Aston Martin. Investindustrial, based in London, is said to have trumped Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (MM) to invest in the Gaydon, England-based automaker, but as yet a final agreement has not been signed.
Source: Bloomberg
Bought Back: Solange Azagury-Partridge, Labelux
In a continued bid to focus on luxury leather goods and footwear, Labelux have sold jewellery brand Solange Azagury-Partridge back to its founder. This follows the sale of Derek Lam back to its founders in November 2012, and allows the conglomerate to focus on its current portfolio that includes Bally, Jimmy Choo, Belstaff and Zagliani.
Source: FashionMag
Stake: Marni, Only the Brave
Diesel jeans brand founder Renzo Rosso has bought a majority stake in Marni, with plans to re-launch the Italian fashion house on foreign markets. The value of the deal has not yet been disclosed, but the acquisition was made through the businessman’s holding company, Only the Brave Srl.
Source: WWD
Acquired: Alain Mykli, Luxottica
Italy’s Luxottica, the world’s biggest premium eyewear maker, said on Friday it had signed a deal to buy French luxury eyewear maker Alain Mikli for around $117 million. The deal strengthens Luxottica’s luxury brands portfolio, the company added in a statement.
Source: Reuters
Acquired: AR New York, Publicis
Publicis Groupe has acquired AR New York, an agency specialised in working for marketers in fashion, beauty and luxury goods. Founded in 1996, AR works for, or has worked for, brands that include Asprey, Brioni, Dolce & Gabbana, Neiman Marcus, the St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Valentino and Versace. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Source: NYTimes
Bought Back: Aman Resorts, Adrian Zecha
DLF, India’s biggest real estate company, has sold luxury hotel chain Amanresorts back to its founder, Adrian Zecha, for $300 million. The parties have signed a definitive agreement for a management buyout, and the deal is expected to close by February 2013.
Source: Financial Times
Speculation: Printemps, Galeries Lafayette
French department store Galeries Lafayette is said to be considering a buyout of rival retailer Printemps. The two fashion giants both have huge flagship stores – side by side – in Paris. Galeries Lafayette has already made public that it has significant international expansion plans, with ambitions to open between five and seven new overseas stores before 2015.
Source: Vogue UK
Stake: Sri Lim Kok Thay, Wider
Malaysian billionaire Sri Lim Kok Thay, whose luxury empire spans casinos and cruise liners, is to buy half of yacht maker Wider to expand into a fast-growing market in Asia, the founder of the Italian has revealed. Following a capital increase, the Malaysian billionaire will become the single biggest shareholder in Wider with a 50 percent stake owned by his vehicle EXA Ltd.
Source: Reuters
Bought: Investcorp, U.S. Real Estate
Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Investcorp has acquired five real estate assets in the United States for around $100 million. The investment firm most recently bought Danish luxury retailer Georg Jensen, from private equity firm Axcel Capital Partners for $140 million, following the sale of truck and trailer parts distributor FleetPride to TPG for over $1 billion.
Source: Reuters
Capital: Rocket Internet, PPR
PPR has invested $13 million into Rocket Internets’s holding company Bigfoot, which includes ‘amazon fashion clones’ in Russia (Lamoda), South America (Dafiti) and the Middle East (Namshi). PPR invested a similar amount in 2012 into fast growing social commerce start-up the Fancy.
Source: The Rude Baguette
Bought: KaDeWe, Signa
Austrian real estate firm Signa has acquired German department store KaDeWe, in addition to 16 further Karstadt locations. The real estate giant paid a reported $1.45 billion for the KaDeWe “Kaufhaus” building itself and the acquisition of Oberpolling in Munich and another Karstadt property.
Source: FashInvest
For more in the series of The Latest Investments, please see our most recent editions as follows:
– The Latest Investments: Aston Martin, Fabergé & Christopher Kane
– The Latest Investments: Chanel, Marcolin & Orient Express
– The Latest Investments: Anya Hindmarch, Berluti & Harry Winston
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.
