Kering Sells Off Girard-Perregaux And Ulysse Nardin To Management Team
The luxury conglomerate offloads high-end watchmakers to focus on its other brands.
Kering has sold both Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin to the current management of the Swiss watch brands.
“On the sound foundations laid thanks to Kering’s support and investments, we have the right setup and resources to implement a plan capable of ensuring the long-term development of both brands” says Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin since 2018.
Sowind Group SA, the parent company of both Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin, has been a part of Kering since 2011, when it took a majority shareholding. During its ownership, Kering shuttered the JeanRichard brand that it also acquired as part of Sowind Group.
“The extensive work carried out by the Group in recent years at Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin has laid the foundations for sustainable growth,” says Jean-François Palus, Kering’s Group Managing Director. “Kering has demonstrated its ability to secure the conditions for the long-term development of entities leaving the Group, in the interest of their employees, partners, customers and local communities.”
However that potential for growth clearly doesn’t match the scale of Kering’s ambitions elsewhere, as the company’s statement also reads “This transaction is in line with Kering’s strategy, giving priority to the Houses with the potential to become sizable assets within the Group, and to which it can provide decisive support over time.”
The sale price has not yet been made public, but will appear in Kering’s 2021 accounts and the transaction is expected to be completed by the summer. Kering’s share price dipped by 1.76% following the announcement.
In other watch news, HYPEBEAST takes a closer look at H.Moser & Cie’s collab with The Armoury.
