LVMH to buy Swiss watchmaker Hublot

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Reuters - 04/24/2008
by Sudip Kar-Gupta

The world's biggest luxury goods group LVMH has agreed to buy Hublot, an upmarket Swiss watchmaker with 2007 sales of more than 150 million Swiss Francs ($148.8 million), LVMH said on Thursday the Hublot brand would fit in well with the French company's existing portfolio of upmarket watches such as Tag Heuer, Dior Montres and Louis Vuitton Watches.

LVMH shares were down 0.4 percent in early morning trade. The stock has fallen 15 percent since the start of 2008. Compared with a 13 percent fall in France's benchmark CAC-40 index. Investment bank Michel Dyens & Co advised LVMH on the Hublot acquisition.

Michel Dyens