News A return to high finance for the Franck Muller group, as it acquires a majority holding in the companies of designer Rodolphe Cattin and in the French firm Alexis Barthelay.
Vartan Sirmakes is a man of his word. Back in February, the co-founder and Managing Director of Franck Muller Watchland stated to L'Agefi that his group's growth would be built internally, but also through acquisitions. He even made it clear, regarding the latter, that two projects were in the pipeline. Now they have come to fruition.
On March 22, Franck Muller Watchland has acquired a "very slight majority", according to the Genevan group's Financial Director Miguel Payró, in the companies Rodolphe & Co in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Rodolphe Montres et Bijoux in Les Bois (Jura canton). The transaction, which has yet to be finalised, will take the form of an investment in Rodolphe & Co through an increase in capital.
For Vartan Sirmakes, "the aim is to combine the development potential of the Jura based manufacturer with the industrial, financial and human resources of the Geneva group, following the blueprint of its multi-brand development strategy. After Franck Muller, we began with Pierre Kunz and ECW, which have already achieved a high level of success in their respective fields. But we also decided to set ourselves a new challenge, namely the start-up of a bona fide division of "Lifestyle Watches". The meeting with Rodolphe came just at the right time, and we have taken the opportunity to incorporate it into this new challenge."
For Rodolphe Cattin, founder of the company that bears his first name, the integration is viewed favourably: "Since the creation of Rodolphe & Co fifteen years ago, our aim has been twofold: to develop a recognised presence in watch design and to expand the Rodolphe brand. On the first point, I feel we've succeeded fairly well. Concerning the second, we realised that in order to give the brand every chance of success, we needed a "complete" partner, able to offer us industrial, commercial and financial support, but also a partner who would share our vision and our values. Today we're sure that with Franck Muller and Vartan Sirmakes we have found the right partners for us. The remarkable success of Franck Muller speaks for itself."
In his new environment, Rodolphe will retain independence in his company in terms of management and design, and will also have the possibility of designing for other manufacturers. Industrial and commercial synergies will however be put in place to facilitate and accelerate development of the Rodolphe brand, for which a move upmarket into gold and complications is a distinct possibility.
Rodolphe employs half a dozen people in Les Bois and around fifteen in La Chaux-de-Fonds, for an annual production of between 1.000 and 2,000 watches. For its part, the Franck Muller group produces a very upmarket range approaching 50,000 pieces and has a workforce in excess of 600, employed for the main part in Switzerland. In addition to its Geneva sites, which produce Franck Muller, Pierre Kunz and European Company Watch (ECW) time-pieces, the Genthod based group also has a presence in the Jura mountains with three companies: the research and development laboratory Neo SA in Neuchâtel, Pignons Juracie SA in Lajoux, and Les Fils d'Arnold Linder SA, a dial manufacturer based in Les Bois. And since 31 March in France, on which day he announced his acquisition of a small majority interest in Parisian company Alexis Barthelay.
"Following the announcement on 22 March of our investment in Rodolphe, we are continuing our multi-brand development strategy in a complementary segment," said Vartan Sirmakes on this occasion. "We shall be putting in place interesting synergies in terms of production and distribution to give fresh impe-tus to Barthelay, which has remarkable commercial potential."
For his part, Roland Barthelay, chairman of the board of directors of Alexis Barthelay SA, representative of the second generation at the helm of the firm and creator of the Barthelay brand, declared: "Since the formation of Alexis Barthelay SA in the 1930s, our aim has been to bring together Parisian fashion and luxury and Swiss watchmaking. Today, to ensure the future of the brand and of the company, the shareholders of Alexis Barthelay SA have taken the decision to consolidate the company within a major luxury watchmaking group. We are proud to be joining the Franck Muller fold."
April 12, 2005
