Richemont - Fashion Company Profile
Richemont - Compagnie Financière Richemont SA - is the Swiss luxury goods group created in 1988 from Rembrandt Group's international assets, owner of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Panerai and Montblanc.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - the Swiss luxury goods group whose Maisons include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc and Chloé, managed for long-term value with each Maison keeping its independence
- Type
- Public - Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange
- Headquarters
- Bellevue, Geneva, Switzerland
- Founded
- 1988, by the spin-off of the international assets of South Africa's Rembrandt Group (now Remgro), the group established by Dr Anton Rupert in the 1940s
Company Profile
The group's present-day information - its Maisons, results and boutiques - is on the Richemont website, linked above. This page carries no shop box: Richemont is a holding company, and its Maisons sell through their own boutiques and sites, which are the right places to shop them. What this profile adds is the group's own dated chronology, kept in full on the history page: the 1988 formation, the 1993 separation of tobacco and luxury, the assembly of the watch and jewellery Maisons between 1996 and 2010, and the 2015 merger of Net-a-Porter with YOOX that closed the kept record. For fashion readers, the two entries to notice are Peter Millar, the U.S. luxury apparel business acquired in 2012, and the 2007 watch and jewellery joint venture with Ralph Lauren, profiled beside Richemont in this letter.
Richemont was created in 1988 by the spin-off of the international assets owned by Rembrandt Group Limited of South Africa (now known as Remgro Limited), the group Dr Anton Rupert established in the 1940s with interests in tobacco, financial services, wines and spirits, and gold and diamond mining, as well as the luxury goods investments that, along with the investment in Rothmans International, would form Richemont. At formation, Richemont owned minority holdings in Cartier Monde and Rothmans International, which also held investments in Cartier Monde, Alfred Dunhill and, through Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc and Chloé. In 1989 it acquired Philip Morris's 30 per cent interest in Rothmans International, and in 1993 it separated its tobacco and luxury goods operations into Rothmans International and Vendôme Luxury Group respectively - the structure from which the modern luxury group grew.
Richemont History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Richemont History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
When was Richemont founded, and from what?
In 1988, by the spin-off of the international assets of South Africa's Rembrandt Group (now Remgro), including its luxury goods investments and its Rothmans International stake; the tobacco and luxury operations were fully separated in 1993.
Which brands does Richemont own?
Its best-known Maisons include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne and Montblanc, with strengths in jewelry, luxury watches and premium accessories.
What is Richemont's connection to Ralph Lauren?
In 2007 Richemont and Polo Ralph Lauren formed a 50/50 joint venture, the Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry Company, whose first watch collection launched at the SIHH in Geneva in January 2009. Both companies are profiled in this letter.
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