Uncategorized

Can Big Luxury Build New Fashion Brands?

14/02/2021

“Kendo provides an intermediary layer of management populated by leaders that are both close to their start-ups and close to senior executives; both agile and able to navigate the wider group and put synergies to work,” explained Pierre Mallevays, co-head of Stanhope Capital’s merchant banking unit and previously director of acquisitions at LVMH.”

Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

03/01/2017

SLI Year in Review – A Bare-Knuckle Ride

Savigny Luxury Index 2016 performance

 

The SLI’s roller-coaster ride was largely driven by the unwieldy combination of political upheavals and what seemed like lofty valuations in the face of uncertain growth prospects.

Shifting Political Sands

From the passive aggressive “battle” of Brexit vs Remain on the river Thames to Trump’s downright aggressive rallies, Western democracy has morphed into a telenovela with more unexpected twists and turns than the Nürburgring. 

Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

11/07/2011

Luxury goods sector

Burberry: from plough horse to thoroughbred?

14 years ago, Burberry was all but put out to pasture, suffering from a dusty image and its logo being pasted on cake tins, doilies and aprons.  Rose-Marie Bravo was put in the saddle and took Burberry for a ride down Chav lane to the gates of the luxury racecourse.  Despite doing a great job in fixing Burberry over her 9-year tenure, setting the foundations for her successor and consistently beating market expectations, the jury was still out as to whether Burberry could ever become a thoroughbred luxury brand.

Read more

Burberry: from plough horse to thoroughbred?

01/07/2011

14 years ago, Burberry was all but put out to pasture, suffering from a dusty image and its logo being pasted on cake tins, doilies and aprons.  Rose-Marie Bravo was put in the saddle and took Burberry for a ride down Chav lane to the gates of the luxury racecourse.  Despite doing a great job in fixing Burberry over her 9-year tenure, setting the foundations for her successor and consistently beating market expectations, the jury was still out as to whether Burberry could ever become a thoroughbred luxury brand.

Read more

Challenges of the Spa Market

01/06/2011

The search for the fountain of youth continues unabated in the 21st century, best evidenced by the boom in the spa business in the past decade. Industry experts calculate annual global spa revenues north of $40 billion, inclusive of services and products.

Read more

Pierre Mallevays

17/05/2011

Pierre is the founder and Managing Partner of Savigny Partners LLP. He brings a unique combination of corporate finance experience, acquired over a career in investment banking, with unparalleled brand expertise from his prior corporate development role at the world’s leading luxury goods group, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton.

Read more

Ludovic Grandchamp

Ludovic joined Savigny Partners from a French family office, Sofinavi, where he was an Operating Partner (Gien, Comptoir de Famille). During his tenure Ludovic managed a number of the firm’s direct investments and held operational roles across several portfolio companies, including launching and developing Comptoir de Famille (home accessories) in the US, and serving as CEO of Faïencerie de Gien (a member of Comité Colbert) before Sofinavi sold the company in 2014.

Prior to Sofinavi, Ludovic worked for an Asian family office, NXMH-NXC (owner of Stokke), focused on retail and luxury goods investments in Europe.

Read more

William Plane

16/05/2011

William joined Savigny Partners in 2006. William comes from an investment banking background, having spent nine years in UBS Warburg’s corporate finance department. In 1999 he set up UBS Warburg’s global luxury goods team and led it until his departure at the end of 2002.
During his three years as head of luxury goods investment banking William was involved in a number of mandates, notably:

  • The sale of Jaeger-Lecoultre, IWC Schaffhausen and Lange & Söehne to Richemont for CHF3.2bn in 2000
  • Advising Gucci on the corporate governance and valuation issues surrounding its 1999 capital increase to PPR in the context of its litigation with LVMH in 2001
  • The sale of Dorotheum, the world’s 6th largest auction house, to a consortium of investors in 2001
  • The IPO of Burberry in 2002
  • The placing of Goldman Sachs equity stake in Ralph Lauren in 2002
  • Advising Selfridges on the market-related aspects of the redevelopment of their Oxford Street site in 2000
Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

31/01/2011

Luxury fashion – getting the business model right

Luxury fashion is a very exciting business which can generate substantial returns if you get the formula right. Not only is there the ability to charge up to ten times the cost of manufacturing a garment and the potential to build a global business; apparel can be the beginning of a page-turning blockbuster, accessories and leather goods are the next chapter, fragrances and eyewear licenses the well-oiled plot.

Read more

Luxury fashion – getting the business model right

01/01/2011

Luxury fashion is a very exciting business which can generate substantial returns if you get the formula right. Not only is there the ability to charge up to ten times the cost of manufacturing a garment and the potential to build a global business; apparel can be the beginning of a page-turning blockbuster, accessories and leather goods are the next chapter, fragrances and eyewear licenses the well-oiled plot. The story can have a happy ending with the promise of many sequels to come.

Read more

Key themes of the Noughties

01/06/2010

The Noughties saw an unprecedented level of interest by private equity players in the sector. Size definitely mattered: Tommy Hilfiger ($1.5 billion), Barneys, ($942 million), Neiman Marcus ($2.6 billion), Valentino Fashion Group (€2.6 billion) were amongst the biggest deals of the decade and all ended up in private equity portfolios.

Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

19/10/2009

Fragrances – the essence of a good brand?
Japan falls from grace as brands turn to China
Ports Design to join SLI!
Sustainability and the Luxury Industry

Read more

Fragrances – the essence of a good brand?

01/10/2009

Luxury brands have long appreciated the potential to capitalise on their brand cachet by marketing fragrances under their name to a wider public than their core customers, thus providing a healthy stream of cash flows and providing a “window into the brand” for new customers.

Read more

Japan falls from grace as brands turn to China

Over the last year or two a barrage of articles have been flooding publications all over the world about the state of the luxury goods market in Japan. In June this year, the Financial Times went as far as to declare, ‘Japanese fall out of love with luxury’.

Read more

The substance of style

17/09/2009

“You can argue that there’s nothing as good as Vuitton in LVMH’s portfolio, but that simply states the fact that LV’s business model is the gold standard of luxury brands; no other brand in the world compares to it.”

Read more

Luxury for Hire

01/12/2008

Rental is the latest development in temporary ownership of luxury items. Previous temporary ownership models include fractional ownership/timeshare, mainly in connection with property assets although more recently with private jets, yachts and classic cars, and by reselling on the second hand market.

Read more

Experiential luxury – life beyond bling

01/03/2008

The last few years have witnessed a veritable boom in expenditure on experiential luxury: whether hiring a personal trainer, learning how to cook with Michelin-rated chefs such as Jean-Christophe Novelli or going on a life-changing adventure trip, the concept of spending on self-enrichment has become a widely accepted feature of our lifestyles.

Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

03/07/2007

Challenges of the Spa Market
India – A Field of Dreams
Luxury Brands and the Internet – From Laggards to Leaders?
Savigny Luxury Index

Read more

India – A Field of Dreams

From the press commentary and the increasing frequency of launch parties in Mumbai and Delhi, it would seem that India cannot get enough of luxury brands. Latest to stake its interest, Hermès has just announced it established a joint venture company to open stores in India, with a first unit expected in New Delhi.

Read more

Savigny Partners Newsletter

02/01/2007

Japan – A Maturing Market, China’s Luxury Market, Private Equity and Luxury Goods
Savigny Luxury Index vs. FTSE All World
M&A Activity in the Sector

Read more

China’s Luxury Market

01/01/2007

China has barely paused for breath this year in its rise to global power. For the third year in a row, its economy is on track to grow by more than 10%. China has spawned a new cast of millionaires and an emerging middle-class centred in large cities on the coast.

Read more

Private Equity and Luxury Goods

The private equity sector is by all accounts the single largest buyer and seller of businesses in the market as a whole today. Some observers credit private equity firms with a good half of the entire M&A market, with almost no limit on deal size due to the ever increasing amounts of capital available to the leading funds.

Read more

Japan – A Maturing Market

While Japan has been a vital market for the luxury goods sector in the past decade (25% of global revenues in 2006), the country has recently shown signs of a fundamental shift in consumption patterns.

Read more