Titan to acquire Swiss watch brand Favre Leuba for Rs13.7 crore
17 Nov 2011
Titan Industries, the country's largest watch maker, is buying Swiss watch brand Favre Leuba for up to €2 million (Rs13.7 crore).
The Bangalore-based watch maker is acquiring the 274 year-old brand from Spain's Valfamily SL, owners of Favre-Leuba and Time Force, and Switzerland's Maison Favre Leuba.
The acquisition will "complement and strengthen the existing watches brand portfolio of the company with a Swiss heritage brand," Titan said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.
This acquisition will give Titan Industries, part of the Tata Group, global rights to the trademarks of this brand, it added.
Founded in 1737 by watch enthusiast Abraham Favre, Le Locle, Switzerland-based Favre Leuba is one of the very first watchmaking companies in Switzerland.
The company was named Favre Leuba in 1814 after Abraham Favre's grandson Henry-Auguste went into partnership with watch dealer Auguste Leuba.
By the 19th and early 20th centuries Favre-Leuba was selling its watches around the world, and had offices or representations throughout the Middle East, India and Asia, North/South America, Russia and other European countries.
The company was held by eight generations of Favre family until 1969 and subsequently had many owners including Benedom SA and LVMH before being acquired Valentin Group in 2003.
Titan, which controls 65 per cent of the Rs4,000-crore organised watches market in India, has high-end watch brands such as Emporio Armani, Burberry, FCUK, Movado, and Guess.