LVMH invests in JW Anderson & Nicholas Kirkwood, as Richemont looks to offload poorly performing businesses & focus on core watch and jewellery brands
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The Latest Investments: LVMH, Chloé & Moncler
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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
LVMH invests in JW Anderson & Nicholas Kirkwood, as Richemont looks to offload poorly performing businesses & focus on core watch and jewellery brands
LVMH invests in JW Anderson & Nicholas Kirkwood, as Richemont looks to offload poorly performing businesses & focus on core watch and jewellery brands
The Latest Fashion Accessory Is an I.P.O. heralded the NY Times, following news that Marc Jacobs left Louis Vuitton to focus on the potential I.P.O. of his fast-growing namesake brand. Indeed in H2 of 2013, Neiman Marcus, Moncler, Versace and Hilton have all expressed intent – if not filed – to go public.
In the previous two or so years, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Michael Kors and Brunello Cucinelli have been a handful of luxury brands to make headlines with impressive stock market debuts. In June 2011, Prada became the first Italian company to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with proceeds of $2.1 billion.
Michael Kors’ IPO was described as the Biggest Ever in US Fashion, raising a whopping $944 million on the Hong Kong stock exchange, valuing the company at $3.8 billion. Shares in Kors Holdings soared 144 percent in the 90 days after going public in December, making it No. 1 in the 2012 Bloomberg Markets ranking of the best-performing initial public offerings.
Indeed this week the US brand has reported a higher-than-expected 40% jump in quarterly revenue, with plans to open near 100 stores in 2014. As Reuters reports, the company’s shares have more than tripled since it went public in 2011.
Speculation: Richemont, Chloé
Richemont is thought to be informally looking for potential buyers for Chloé, as part of the Swiss conglomerate’s decision to offload poorly performing businesses and focus on its core watch and jewellery brands.
Regarding the sale process of Chloe, for which advisers have not yet been retained, a source revealed to Reuters: “It is not a question of if but a question of when.”
Source: Reuters
Stake: Nicolas Kirkwood, LVMH
LVMH has taken a majority stake in London shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood. Under the terms of the deal, LVMH will take a majority stake in return for providing “expertise” to grow the brand.
Kirkwood said: “LVMH is home to the most celebrated and revered brands and talents in our industry, and has an implicit understanding of luxury.”
Source: The Independent
Denied: Balmain, IPO
Balmain has denied speculation that it is considering going public. According to online reports, the French fashion house was said to be mulling a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2015.
“This anonymous rumour is not true and it has no basis in fact,” a Balmain statement revealed to WWD reports. The brand is currently owned by majority stakeholder CEO Alain Hivelin, while Olivier Rousteing remains creative director.
Source: Vogue UK
Listed: Moncler
Moncler S.p.A. has filed applications with the Italian Stock Exchange for admission to list its ordinary shares on the Telematic Stock Market (Mercato Telematico Azionario), organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A.
The selling shareholders are ECIP M. (a company controlled by Eurazeo S.A.), CEP III (a company controlled by the Carlyle Group) and BRAND PARTNERS 2 (a company controlled by Progressio Investimenti).
Source: Moncler
Stake: JW Anderson, LVMH
JW Anderson has become the latest label to join the LVMH designer stable, and the designer will be taking the helm at LVMH house Loewe as part of the agreement. The conglomerate acquired a minority stake today, after a lengthy period of negotiation and discussion, although financial details have not been revealed.
Source: Vogue UK
To List: Hilton Hotels
Hilton Worldwide will seek to raise $1.25 billion from an initial public offering of its common stock. The McLean, Va.-based hotel operator has filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said in a written statement that it has not yet determined the number of shares that will be offered and at what price.
Source: USA Today
Bought: Kilgour, Fung Capital
Fung Capital, the private investment company run by the Li & Fung owners, has acquired Savile Row tailor Kilgour to add to its stable of British tailoring labels, including Hardy Aimes – and Gieves & Hawkes and Kent & Curwen, which are controlled by another part of the Fung business.
Source: WWD
Offer: Fisker, Fritz Nol
German investment group Fritz Nol has submitted a formal offer for flailing Fisker Motors, for a reported sum of $25 million, with the intention to start limited production of the Karma extended-range electric sedan and several derivative models at a plant in the U.S.
The offer has been made to the Department of Energy, the government agency that is still owed by Fisker the better part of a $192 million loan, and has the final say in the ultimate disposition of the company.
Source: Motor Authority
For more in the series of The Latest Investments, please see our most recent editions as follows:
– The Latest Investments: Neiman Marcus, Kering & Hermès
– The Latest Investments: Richard Mille, Loro Piana & Porsche
– The Latest Investments: Coty, Versace & Pomellato
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.
