The famous handbag brand Delvaux becomes part of the Swiss Richemont, the holding company above Cartier and Montblanc.
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Delvaux, originally from Brussels, was founded in 1829 and claims to be the oldest leather goods producer in the world. The brand name Delvaux stands for luxury and is mainly associated with the handbags of the same name. There are fifty exclusive Delvaux stores worldwide, six of which are in Belgium.
Since 2011, Delvaux has been largely owned by the Chinese holding company Fung Brands, owned by the millionaire brothers Victor and William Fung. The Chinese owners had been looking for a buyer for some time. In April, there were strong rumors of an imminent sale of Delvaux. The financial news agency Bloomberg Delvaux valued at the time at $500 to $600 million. It is not known whether the new owner, the Swiss luxury group Richemont, has paid an amount of that magnitude to Fung Brands.
New start
The Swiss have plans with the (former) Belgian handbag maker. “The acquisition by Richemont prepares Delvaux for the next phase of development,” it reads in management language. More concretely, Delvaux will be able to take advantage of Richemont’s global presence, which will allow its products to be sold in more places.
At Richemont, Delvaux handbags are already in good company. The Swiss group includes a whole series of luxury brands, such as the jewels of Cartier, the watches of (among others) Piaget and the fountain pens of Montblanc.
The company is listed in Switzerland and South Africa.
For Delvaux it could mean a new start. At the beginning of this year, it was announced that the company had to carry out a restructuring to absorb the loss of turnover during the corona pandemic (-40 percent in 2020). In Belgium, 26 of the 155 jobs were lost.
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