LVMH To Acquire Swiss Watchmaker Hublot

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is buying itself another watch brand, upping its commitment to the sector in the weeks following the world's largest watch and jewelry fair in Basel.

Luxury's largest conglomerate, LVMH inked a deal with the Geneva, Switzerland-based Hublot group, a high end watchmaker that has posted respectable sales growth in recent years.

Terms were not released in the deal which will see Paris-based LVMH buy Hublot from its founder Carlo Crocco, who launched the label in 1980, and Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot's CEO since 2004.

LVMH executives regard Hublot as a brand that will dovetail with its existing stable of watch makers that is comprised of TAG Heuer, the Swiss Watch Manufacturer Zenith, Dior Montres, and the watch collections of jewelers Chaumet, Fred and De Beers plus Louis Vuitton's watch line.

"Hublot is a strategic and very complementary acquisition. Its high-end positioning, selective distribution, financial performance and growth potential make Hublot a 'rising star'," said Philippe Pascal, CEO of LVMH’s Watches & Jewelry business group, in a release.

Hublot has grown at a rapid pace since 2004, racking up net revenue of some $149 million in 2007 with what a LVMH release termed "excellent profitability” without, however, stating a figure.

"I am happy that Hublot, an innovative brand since its creation, is joining the LVMH group, the world leader in luxury goods, whose creative passion is without any doubt a value that I have always shared," said founder Crocco.

Hublot currently retails in a selective distribution network of just 300 stores worldwide, primarily in Europe, though this should expand as the label has begun selling its products in China and India and sees strong growth potential in Asia, Japan and North America.

Hublot's product range is characterized by watches in unusual materials using unlikely combinations of precious metals like gold and platinum with technological metals such as titanium, tantalum and far more left-field ideas like ceramics, diamonds and natural rubber.

Its Big Bang collection includes models equipped with automatic movements whose prices range from 8,000 euros for steel and ceramic, to more than 300,000 euros, when integrating precious metals and technical complexity.

Hublot recently launched the Big Bang collection for women at the last Basel watch fair to considerable acclaim.

Source: fashionwiredaily.com