Italian maker of luxury travel leather goods Piquadro SpA said March 13 that it has entered exclusive negotiations with Swiss luxury goods company Compagnie Financière Richemont SA to acquire French leather handbag-maker Lancel.
Piquadro said the due diligence phase has just started and no binding agreements are in place. The Italian company said Richemont will relay certain information to its employee works council about a potential transaction in accordance with French labor law.
Piquadro said the transaction could be completed by the middle of the 2018 calendar year.
Richemont, which owns jewelry brands Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels and watch brands including Piaget, does not break out Lancel's sales when it releases its financial results. Lancel is part of Richemont's non-jewelry and watch division, which includes men's apparel brand Alfred Dunhill. Sales at that division rose 3% to €915 million for the first half ending Sept. 30, 2017, from €886 million in the year-earlier period. The division's operating result for the period was €6 million, compared to a year-earlier loss of €40 million.
