Breitling Sold To CVC Capital Partners For More Than $ 870 Million

[swisswatches]

Even in the extremely turbulent times that the watch industry has been going through for almost two years, the rare news that significant brands are switching hands is why it is a remarkable day today as it has just been announced that the reliable Breitling watches have been sold to CVC Capital Partners for more than 800 million euros, which is approximately $ 873 million or 866 million Swiss francs.

Until now, Breitling watches with Swiss mechanical movements have been one of the few well-independent significant brands out there. Chopard and Patek Philippe remain two other large family businesses in the industry, with every other giant brand owned by one of the big four groups (Swatch Group, LVMH, Richemont, and Kering) or another large entity. Such as Rolex and Tudor with the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. The last big news of this nature was when the family business Frederique Constant, Alpina, and Atelier de Monaco was previous year by Citizen Watch Co. were bought.
Breitling watches with black dials.
Nevertheless, previous majority shareholder Theodore Schneider remains with Breitling because, as part of the agreement with CVC Capital Partners, he agreed to reinvest for a 20% stake in Breitling. Ironically, it was not until May last year that Breitling Vice President Jean-Paul Girardin told Reuters that he is confident that Breitling will retain its independence, despite speculation about the future after Ernest Schneider's death in 2015, who bought the brand in 1979.
Still, Bloomberg (today's breaker of news) had reported shortly after that interview at the end of November last year that robust Breitling watches were available in stores after having been owned by the Schneider family since 1979. Breitling is a family business in the sense that Ernest Schneider ran it from the late 1970s to the early 1990s when his son Théodore Schneider took over. Although Théodore is the (sporadic) type of CEO of the Silent Watch that is not in the limelight, he participates in business operations.

At the end of last year, when speculation regarding the sale of Breitling broke out, analysts expected that it would employ about 900 people and produce about 150,000 watches annually to generate between 600 and 900 million Swiss francs (CHF). Get it. Today we know that Breitling was acquired for over 866 million Swiss Francs with an annual turnover of approximately 420 million Swiss Francs, this could give the company the financial stability it needed to endure these difficult times and, hopefully, come out stronger once it's over.