Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Note the last line in the article. Chuck Albertson Seattle, Wash. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------- COMPANIES & MARKETS: Herme`s focuses on Leica with a Pounds 10m bid Financial Times; Nov 21, 2000 Fashion house Herme`s International is seeking to move to the other side of the lens with a Euros 17m (Pounds 10m) bid for a little less than a third of Leica, Germany's 150-year-old camera manufacturer. The move is a departure from Herme`s' leather goods and scarf image and is the first time a fashion group has sought to buy a camera maker. "This offer expresses the willingness for an alliance between two companies which have been inspired for more than 150 years by the same values of excellence," said Mireille Maury, deputy managing director of Herme`s. She declined to say whether Leica's famous M6 camera or up-market binoculars would shortly be appearing on the shelves of Herme`s stores, saying discussions would start if the deal went through. The French company is offering Euros 12.50 a share, a premium of 20.2 per cent to Friday's closing price, for up to 30 per cent of Leica. Herme`s was among the first of the fashion houses to move into watchmaking, a trend that became firmly established when luxury goods giant LVMH unsuccessfully bid for the watch business of Mannesmann sold by Vodafone earlier this year. But analysts said they did not expect a rush of companies into the photography business. Leica, in particular, was seen as an unusual move as it caters to the professional photographer rather than "ladies who lunch". "I would expect most of the companies in the industry to be more focused than that," said Claire Kent at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. She doubted the cameras would make an appearance in New York or Paris designer outlets, but said it was possible that binoculars, as "lifestyle products", could appear, possibly with Herme`s-branded leather cases. Jean-Louis Dumas, Herme`s chairman, met Hanns-Peter Cohn, Leica chairman, when he accompanied a group of artists to the Leica headquarters in Solms last August. Leica, whose shares were suspended after the offer was announced, has been losing money. Yesterday it announced increased losses for the six months to the end of September of DM6.7m on sales up 15.7 per cent at DM141.5m (Pounds 43.6m). It blamed the increase on the weakness of the euro and one-off costs associated with a trade fair. Leica is supporting the bid, which it hopes will rid it of unfriendly shareholders.