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Acquisition of GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH

October 2000




Swatch Group Ltd.: Acquisition of GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb Gmbh

Biel/Bienne, October 9th 2000 - The shareholders and the management of GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH and the Swatch Group Ltd. agreed that the Swatch Group Ltd. acquires with immediate effect all the shares of the German watch manufacture GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb, GlashÜtte (near Dresden, Germany). The GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb manufactures high-quality mechanical watches situated in the luxury segment of the “haut de gamme” watch market.
The brand GlashÜtter Original with its exclusive timepieces will be integrated into the existing range of watch brands of the Swatch Group. The considerable development potential of the Swatch Group, with its 155 production centers (factories) and its universal distribution network makes it the largest watchmaker in the world, and the motivation of GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb to face the challenges of the 21 century within a strong and internationally active group led to the strategic decision of the pool companies Aureus Private Equity Ltd. to sell the company to the Swatch Group. An innovative spirit of their own is as much part of the products of the manufacture GlashÜtter Uhrenbetrieb as their appealing soberness, but above all they are the masterpieces of precision and sophistication of the German watchmaker tradition.

From the press release of the Swatch Group Ltd.