Faberge offloaded by stone miner Gemfields
Luxury jewellery maker Faberge has been sold by its London-listed owner Gemfields to a tech entrepreneur in a deal worth $50m (£37.2m).
The firm, best known for its opulent, ornate eggs, was sold to Sergei Mosunov’s US-based private equity house, SMG Capital, after coloured stones miner Gemfied announced a strategic review of the brand, after the group ran into “considerable challenges” earlier this year.
Gemfields owned Faberge for over a decade, and will receive $45m when the deal completes this month, and the remaining $5m in royalty payments..
The luxury brand can trace its roots back to the late 19th century, when Peter Carl Faberge first made his eponymous eggs from precious metals and gems, commissioned initially for the Russian tsar, Aleksadr III.
Peter Carl would go on to make approximately 50 eggs for the Russian imperial family between 1842 and 1916, and the whereabouts of 40 are known today. Items from the original ‘imperial’ collection now fetch vast sums at auction. Oil and gas magnate Viktor Vkselberg paid over $90m for nine imperial eggs in 2004, while the most expensive egg – the Third Imperial Easter Egg – was once valued at $33m.
Faberge expands
, making necklaces, watches and other egg ‘objets’, with multiple itmes being sold for in excess of £50,000. But it has been a victim of the wider slowdown in the luxury sector, sparking Gemfields to announce it was reviewing its ownership of December 2024.
The mining group’s shares rose by more than three per cent on Monday morning. It said the deal would allow its operations to become a “more streamlined and focused” proposition to investors.
“Fabergé has played a key role in raising the profile of the coloured gemstones mined by Gemfields and we will certainly miss its marketing leverage and star power,” said Sean Gilbertson, Gemfields’ group chief executive.
Panmure Liberum’s Duncan Hay said the deal would naturally dent the “marketing leverage” Gemfields enjoyed from owning a luxury brand.
But he added: “The sale further strengthens its balance sheet” at a time of robust demand for rubies.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, told CityAM: ““Today’s sale of the iconic Faberge brand will be bittersweet for Gemfields. The $50 million it will receive will go a long way to bolstering the miner’s flagging finances but it loses what has been an incredible shop window for the colourful gems it jimmies out of the ground.
“The price paid for the brand might pale in comparison with the amount paid for nine imperial eggs back in 2004, but it gives the miner significant capital to plough back into the struggling business allowing it to focus on its core operation.”