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Revived jeweler Faberge seeks ultra rich online

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-10 09:49

It may take several years to become profitable as the group carves out a niche in the sector, Dunhill said in an interview.

"This is a very elite business seeking to attract a devoted base of connoisseurs... realistically a business like this takes time to grow," he said.

"We are targeting a break-even within a reasonable time frame." When asked if five years was reasonable, he replied: "Yes, I think we'd be happy and our shareholders would be happy if we achieved that."

Dunhill declined to say how much had been invested so far, but said the group had no debt.

Mining investment group Pallinghurst Resources, which owns about half of the group, bought the Faberge brand from Unilever in 2007 and launched a revival of the name which had been used to market mainstream cosmetics like Brut men's fragrance.

U.S. private equity group Midstream & Resources has a 20 percent stake and South African bank Investec owns around 10 percent.

The original Faberge company was founded in 1842 by Russian jeweler Gustav Faberge, who gained fame for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted eggs for Russia's Tsars.

At some point Faberge is likely to create the first egg since the Faberge family was scattered by the Russian revolution, Dunhill said.

Gustav's grandsons, who established a new Faberge firm in Paris, discovered after World War Two that a U.S. businessman was selling perfume under their family name.

They launched a lawsuit, but ran out of money and ceded rights to their family name to a U.S. firm in 1951 for $25,000. The Faberge brand then went through many owners before being sold for $1.55 billion to consumer goods group Unilever in 1989.

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