SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Mainboard-listed luxury watch retailer Cortina Holdings has proposed to acquire Sincere Watch for $84.5 million in cash, it said in an exchange filing early Tuesday morning (Nov 17).

Cortina said the proposed acquisition will provide it with exclusive distributorship rights to the Frank Muller brand in 12 countries within the Asia-Pacific.

It added that the deal will also give Cortina access to Sincere Watch’s arsenal of brands that can be distributed across 40 combined outlets, and create operational synergies that will increase the Cortina group’s value to both consumers and business partners.

The target group to be acquired – including Sincere Watch’s several subsidiaries and an associated company – operates 18 boutiques, with a portfolio including Omega, Audemars Piguet, Panerai and Tudor.

Sincere Watch runs multi-brand retail under the Sincere brand in Singapore and Malaysia, and under the Pendulum brand in Thailand. In addition, it runs mono-brand boutiques for Franck Muller in Singapore and Australia, A. Lange & Söhne in Malaysia, as well as A. Lange & Söhne, Breitling and IWC in Thailand.

The purchase price of $84.5 million represents a discount of about 0.2 per cent from the target group’s net tangible assets as at June 30, 2020.

Cortina intends to raise around 60 per cent of the sum from bank borrowings and the remainder through internal resources.

The proposed acquisition constitutes a major transaction under listing rules, thus requiring Cortina’s shareholders’ approval.

Cortina shares rose $0.03 or 1.5 per cent on Monday to close at $2.07.