Breitling: Preparing for an IPO


According to documents obtained by Swiss finance news portal finews.ch, global private markets investment manager Partners Group is planning to acquire a majority stake in Swiss luxury watch brand Breitling.

“Having built up a minority stake in Breitling through its private market funds in the fall of 2021, Partners Group plans to acquire a 50.3 percent majority stake in the luxury watchmaker. Financial investor CVC, which has held a stake in Breitling since 2017, would still hold 23.6 percent of the watchmaker after the change.”

finews.ch

As a consequence, an IPO of the watchmaker is becoming more realistic than ever (already in October last year, Daniel Pindur, Managing Partner at CVC Capital Partners, said in a statement that that they were targeting “an IPO in a few years’ time”).

Georges Kern (here with Gregory Breitling at the brand’s Navitimer Cosmonaute launch event in May 2022) has joined the company in 2017 as shareholder and CEO. In just five years, he transformed and repositioned the brand, accelerated growth and has been promoting sustainable luxury.

The goal of this new ownership structure is, according to finews.ch, “to double Breitling’s sales and operating profit over the next five years.” – A goal that has already been achieved in terms of sales since Kern’s arrival in 2017 (according to a report published by Morgan Stanley at the beginning of the year, Breitling’s annual revenues had increased to an estimated CHF 680,000,000, more than 50%, over the past two years). An initial public offering (IPO) on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2027 would then allow investors to make their exit.

One of the brand’s latest releases is the Superocean 42 with yellow dial (Ref. A17375211I1S1), available exclusively via the brand’s own online shop.
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  1. Hey Georges, getting old lately or tired? Sell it to China, North Korea or Russia, you and Breitling are out…

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  2. Danny Simenauer

    I own & wear several Breitling watches in my collection. Given the quality, affordability & availability of Breitling, I still do not understand why Breitling isn’t more popular amongst watch collectors. Hopefully Georges Kern can continue to accelerate Breitling’s success and collectability.

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