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Compagnie Financière Richemont SA is a Swiss luxury goods company that was founded in 1988 by the South African billionaire businessman, Johann Rupert. It has four main business areas: jewellery, watches, writing instruments and clothing. The company is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange (ticker: CFR) and on the JSE (ticker: RCH). It is the eighth biggest company in the SMI (Swiss Market Index). As of 2007, it is the third-largest luxury goods company in the world by turnover, behind LVMH and PPR, its two main competitors in the luxury goods market. In March 2007, Richemont and Polo Ralph Lauren announced the formation of a joint venture, the Polo Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery Company, S.A.R.L., of which each company will own 50 percent.

[edit] Companies

Principal companies in the group are:

• Cartier - jewellery, watches, etc. French company, watches Swiss-made
• Van Cleef & Arpels - jewellery, watches, etc.
• Piaget - jewellery, watches
• Vacheron Constantin - Swiss watches
• A. Lange & Söhne - German watches
• Jaeger-LeCoultre - Swiss watches
• Officine Panerai - Swiss watches, Italian heritage
• International Watch Co - Swiss watches, American-founded
• Baume et Mercier - watches, Swiss-assembled, some outsourcing of components
• Montblanc - German writing instrument manufacturer
• Alfred Dunhill
• Lancel
• Chloé
• Roger Dubuis - Swiss watches
• James Purdey and Sons
• Montegrappa - Italian writing instrument manufacturer
• Shanghai Tang - Modern Chinese fashion store chain (Richemont is a 'significant' shareholder [1])

All companies are fully owned subsidiaries. In addition to the above companies, Richemont has an 29.5% (as at March, 2008) investment in British American Tobacco; about 40% of the Richemont balance sheet is BAT ordinary shares.

Early in 2008 venture capital firm Boundless L.L.C. made an unsolicited takeover of the company, offering just under 61 CHF for all outstanding common shares of the company.

[edit] Former companies

• Hackett - Richemont acquired Hackett in 1992. It was announced in early June 2005 that Richemont had sold Hackett to Torreal, a Spanish investment company.

[edit] External links

• Richemont corporate website

Companies portal

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