Private equity firm Partners Group is negotiating to increase its stake in watchmaker Breitling to more than half of the shares. This would value the legendary Swiss brand at more than 4.2 billion Swiss francs ($4.5 billion).
Partners Group, a European and international reference in its field, is currently in discussions to increase its financial stake in the Breitling company to more than 50%, compared to about 23% previously, according to sources close to the case.
For its part, CVC Capital Partners, another private equity firm, is expected to reduce its majority stake to about 20 %. Breitling’s management and other private investors currently hold the rest.
Valuation soars
The valuation attributed to the Swiss brand would thus show a spectacular increase. Led by Georges Kern since 2017, Breitling was valued that same year at about 800 million Swiss francs (about $855 million) when CVC bought a majority stake. 4 years later, Partners Group invested for the first time and the company’s valuation reached about 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion) this time.
The brand’s sales have increased significantly (+40%!) in 2021, reaching about 700 million Swiss francs (about $748 million), according to estimates by the American bank Morgan Stanley. And this year, thanks to the popularity of models such as Navitimer, Chronomat and Superocean, sales have increased by another 25%.
This increase in sales is boosted by the increase in the average selling price. The main reason for this is the choice of materials Breitling uses, i.e. more gold, precious stones and metals.
During the pandemic, some sectors were in the shadows, while others shone. This was the case for the Swiss watchmaking industry, where demand soared during this period. Exports reached a record high of 22.3 billion Swiss francs ($22.6 billion) in 2021.
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Featured photo : ©Breitling
