Richemont: Online retailer’s IPO on the cards

RICHEMONT is considering an initial public offering of online retailer Net-a-Porter as soon as next year, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Richemont, the world’s largest jewellery maker, had held talks with banks to discuss options for the London-based company, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are not public. It might also consider a sale, they said. The stock rose as much as 2.7 percent. Either move “makes sense”, said Rene Weber, an analyst at Bank Vontobel, adding he had a preference for a sale. “Online retailers don’t belong to luxury goods companies in the long term.” Richemont bought the two-thirds of Net-a-Porter it did not already own in a 2010 deal that valued the retailer at £350 million (R6 billion). Weber estimates Net-a-Porter’s sales reached e580m (R4.7bn) in the year to March and will be about e660m for fiscal 2015. Shares of the Geneva-based company, whose 20 brands include Cartier and Montblanc, traded 2.1 percent higher at Sf86.80 (R980) at 12.13pm in Zurich on Friday, giving a market value of about Sf50bn. No final decision on a sale or IPO has been made, and Richemont may choose to keep the business. A representative for the company declined to comment on Friday. Richemont’s chief financial officer Gary Saage said at the start of this month that the luxury goods maker had not changed a decision made last year to keep all its brands. – Bloomberg