LMH

Les Manufactures Horlogères SA was a watch holding company within the German company VDO Adolf Schindling AG from 1991 through 2000, when the group became part of Richemont. LMH was founded by Günter Blümlein based on IWC (purchased by VDO in 1978), SAPHIR Group (majority owner of Jaeger-LeCoultre, purchased later that year), and A. Lange & Söhne (re-started by Blümlein and Walter Lange in 1990). LMH was the subject of a bidding war in 1999 when Vodafone acquired VDO in the largest corporate takeover in history, with PPR and LVMH leading the bidding before Richemont purchased40% of Jaeger-LeCoultre from Audemars Piguet and secured the deal.

History

IWC was acquired by VDO in 1978 as many watchmakers were acquired by non-watchmaking groups. Soon after, the German company acquired SAPHIR Group from the Favre family, which owned 55% of Jaeger-LeCoultre as well as Favre-Leuba. These assets were managed by engineer Günter Blümlein by 1980, and his experience at Junghans lead him to believe that there was a future in the Swiss watch market, especially for complicated mechanical watches.

SAPHIR was the descendent of SAPIC, founded by the LeCoultre family in 1927 to consolidate its various businesses. Vacheron Constantin became part of SAPIC in 1937 but was split out in 1965, with the result renamed SAPHIR. The Favre family purchased SAPHIR in 1969, connecting Jaeger-LeCoultre with Favre-Leuba through the crisis of the 1970s. Blümlein concentrated ownership of Jaeger-LeCoultre through the 1980s, purchasing the 20% share owned by Swiss banks and the 25% left in the hands of the Ketterer family after the split with Vacheron Constantin. He also consolidated ownership of the Jaeger name in France and Switzerland.

Blümlein's instincts were proven correct as IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced complicated watches (notably chronographs and a grande complication) in the 1980s. In 1986 VDO strengthened its relationship with Audemars Piguet by selling 40% of SAPHIR to the high-end watchmaker. And in 1990 Blümlein partnered with Walter Lange to re-launch A. Lange & Söhne.

Les Manufactures Horlogères

The three watchmaking businesses inside VDO (IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and A. Lange & Söhne) were reorganized as Les Manufactures Horlogères (LMH) under Günter Blümlein in 1991. This put VDO on par with Cartier Monde, Investcorp, and SMH as major Swiss watch holding companies. But the watchmaking group, already a small contributor within VDO, was made even smaller when Mannesmann acquired the firm later that year. But this did finally and fully reunite ownership of Jaeger (owned by Mannesmann) and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

In 1997 LMH was restructured into a holding company, with Blümlein focused on the group rather than each individual firm. Despite outside pressure, the group remained committed to the independence of the three watchmaking companies and their respective production sites.

Amid a tumult of mergers in 1999 rumors began circulating that LMH would be put up for sale by Mannesmann. This became more acute in November as Vodafone began a hostile takeover of the German company focused on the mobile phone business. The group was officially offered for sale on May 15, 2000, with Gucci/PPR, LVMH, and Richemont/Audemars Piguet submitting official bids. Richemont prevailed, announcing the acquisition of LMH for CHF 2.8 billion, plus CHF 280 million to purchase Audemars Piguet's 40% share in Jaeger-LeCoultre. Bulgari and Swatch Group declined to bid, and Audemars Piguet management did not want to complete the rumored joint venture with Richemont.