Boost for British watchmaker Bremont as US billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman takes minority stake
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman took a minority stake in watchmaker Bremont after becoming a client.
The US activist investor has injected £48.4million into the Henley-on-Thames-based company alongside long-time investor Hellcat.
The move will help Bremont bring watchmaking back to the UK on a large scale.
US activist investor Bill Ackman has injected £48.4million into Henley-on-Thames-based watchmaker Bremont, alongside long-time investor Hellcat
Ackman said he has “long admired” the company and last summer sent a handwritten note to brothers Nick and Giles English, who co-founded Bremont in 2002.
The 56-year-old founder and boss of New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management has invested his own private funds in the British company and said he would help recruit a managing director.
Bremont, known for selling products to the military and headquartered in Henley-on-Thames, London, is now valued at over £100million.
The Wall Street financier said he was “delighted” to have become a shareholder “at a turning point in the evolution of the company” and to see it reach its “legitimate position as a world leader in watchmaking”.
The fresh capital was “not just a boost for Bremont, but also for Britain”, Giles English said.
A year and a half ago, the watchmaker opened a 35,000 square foot manufacturing and technology center in Henley.
