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Wednesday, August 2, 2017

BLACKSTONE INTERESTED IN SELLING THEIR STAKE IN LEICA CAMERA AG







Reuters reports that the US investment firm of Blackstone is interested in selling their 45 per cent stake in Leica Camera AG.  It is anticipated that several companies are interested.  The current value of Leica is estimated to be 700 million euros.  However, the majority ownership of the company will remain in the hands of majority owner Andreas Kaufmann.

Kaufmann and his holding company of ACM bought Leica in 2006.  Five years later he sold a 45 percent stake in his company to Blackstone.  Just recently Huawei, the world’s third largest manufacturer of cell phones, signed an agreement with Leica which allows them to use Leica camera technology in their cell phones.   However, it is unclear if they are ready to post a bid for the Blackstone stake in the company.  It is also thought that Zeiss of Oberkochen, Germany might be interested, however, that would only be the case if they could obtain a majority stake.  Other interested parties are thought to be family investors as well as private equity funds and competitors from Asia.

For the current fiscal year, Leica expects an operating profit of approximately 70 million euros before taxes, interest and depreciation.  Blackstone hopes that potential buyers will place a higher rating on the luxury vendor Leica than on Japanese mass manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon.  While the camera industry as a whole has been hard hit under pressure by the powerful smartphone cameras, Leica cameras have resisted the downward trend.



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