The Hour Glass In Friendly Buyout of Home-Grown Watches of Switzerland

News • 29 Oct 2014

The Hour Glass In Friendly Buyout of Home-Grown Watches of Switzerland


Watches of Switzerland Paragon
Watches of Switzerland Paragon

The Hour Glass Limited, one of Asia’s leading specialty watch retailers, completed its purchase of Watches of Switzerland, a fifty year old watch retail chain owned by the Jay Gee Melwani Group yesterday.

This deal was driven by the opportunity for The Hour Glass to tap into Singapore’s suburban retail landscape and extend its reach into the prestige watch segment.

The purchase was concluded on a willing buyer willing seller basis. With this, Watches of Switzerland will become a 100% subsidiary of The Hour Glass Group. The Group will use internal resources to fund the purchase.

The listed company will continue to maintain and operate the Watches of Switzerland retail brand through its current five stores in VivoCity, The Paragon, Centrepoint, Tampines Mall and City Square Mall.

Mr Michael Tay, Executive Director of The Hour Glass says, “The custodial transfer of Watches of Switzerland to The Hour Glass Group will bring about more developmental opportunities, strengthening the group’s position in the watch retail sector. Given the synergies across various merchandising and operating platforms, we see tremendous potential in enhancing our overall business. More importantly, we are excited to be welcoming Watches of Switzerland’s excellent team of sales professionals into The Hour Glass family.”

“Watches of Switzerland has a five decade history operating in Singapore and we are delighted to have found a like-minded peer in The Hour Glass. The Hour Glass not only understands and respects the core elements of our business, but also has the resources and capacity to grow the business with success. We believe this transaction will provide new opportunities for our employees, customers and business partners” says Mr R Dhinakaran, Group Managing Director of Jay Gee Melwani Group.

A strategic beachhead into the prestige watch segment

The Hour Glass Group is a leading specialty luxury watch retailer with 32 boutiques principally located within core prime luxury shopping precincts. With this new acquisition, The Hour Glass will be able to tap into the rising affluence of suburban Singapore, raising its network of boutiques in Singapore to 20; and a total of 37 boutiques throughout the AsiaPacific region.

The acquisition will also enable the Group to extend its reach into the prestige watch market, offering a complementary fit to its current specialty and luxury watch portfolio.

The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets or earnings per share of The Hour Glass Limited for the current financial year ending 31 March 2015.

Tags: luxury watch prestige watch market the hour glass watches watches of switzerland


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