Friday, April 28, 2017

To Be Confirmed - Breitling Has A New Owner

To be 100% clear, I have not laid hands to a communication from Breitling and this is cobbled together from a few different news sources, but the word around the campfire is that the majority of Breitling has been purchased by CVC Capital Partners of (I believe) Luxembourg.

In an effort to clarify the stories posted in Tribune de Geneve:
http://www.tdg.ch/economie/breitling-vendu-cvc-capital-partners/story/11299208

I was able to find this update in the Press section of CVC Capital Partners:
http://www.cvc.com/Media-Centre.htmx?tabyear=2017&mediaitem=13751710044201

Essentially, CVC Capital Partners via the CVC Fund V1 have agreed to acquire 80% of Breitling SA.  Financial specifics remain under wraps.  Théodore Schneider will retain 20% of Breitling via a "reinvestment".  The dust is expected to settle on the regulatory requirements and should close in a few months - June.

Now this definitely is a bit of a curve ball, as rumors were flying at BaselWorld that perhaps Rolex (Tudor) and Breitling might be getting cozy owing to the shared technology, etc., in some BaselWorld releases from both brands.  So this does become an interesting proposition for the folks at CVC.

The watch industry is extremely challenging right now.  And it might be that ownership from outside the "closed empire" might have a more pragmatic view and approach.

We shall see.  Stay tuned!





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