Leica Camera's Owners Weigh $1.2 Billion Sale of Controlling Stake

The owners of Leica Camera AG -- Austrian billionaire Andreas Kaufmann and private equity giant Blackstone -- are considering a sale of a controlling stake in the German camera maker in a deal that could value the company at about $1.2 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

HSG, formerly known as Sequoia Capital China, and Altor Equity Partners are among a handful of bidders. The Kaufmann family could re-invest following a transaction. Leica traces its roots roughly 150 years to Ernst Leitz's microscope company and was publicly traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange until the Kaufmann family took it private in 2012.

I get the snakebite kit out

[scalptalc]

Anytime I read something like "Equity Partners".

Bad for consumers

[locater16]

For those not familiar with the camera world: Leica has done a relatively good job recently positioning itself as a "premium" camera brand. You do pay a ton, but from lenses to most cameras you get stuff that's noticeably at least a bit better in most ways than any directly competing product.

Of course a sale means the owners assume they've maxxed out how far they can take this, and any potential buyers are probably the type to cut corners and ride higher profit margins on the brand name until it's wrung out and worthless.

Re: Bad for consumers

[HnT]

Panasonic is making those cameras, and it is much more of a lifestyle brand now than anything, if one can even believe it that you can position five-figure digital cameras as lifestyle.

Re:

[locater16]

What? No, that's not how it works at all. The full frame cameras use modified Sony sensors offering lower native ISO than the Sony branded ones, which are the primary sellers in their M mount, which is their own mount on their own body design. There's like, 1 single model no one buys from an intermediary Israeli semi foundry Tower Semiconductor based on a Pansonic design but that's it. And anyone into photography will tell you lenses cost more than camera bodies, and all the lens designs are Leica property,

Re: Bad for consumers

[YetanotherUID]

The high-end compact C-Lux, D-Lux and V-Lux series are all Panasonic-made, and account for the majority of Leica sales. All the Leica DG lenses in m4/3 are also Panasonic-made. Leica Q cameras have mostly Panasonic innards, as do the L mount SL series.

Lenses in the L mount system (the one actually aimed at pros who need basic modern functions like autofocus, rather than at dentists and accountants buying status symbol M cameras and lenses) are mostly made by Panasonic and Sigma.

Re:

[greytree]

"the type to cut corners and ride higher profit margins on the brand name until it's wrung out and worthless."

Boeing is that you ?
HP ?
Windows ?

Re:

[Local ID10T]

Of course a sale means the owners assume they've maxxed out how far they can take this, and any potential buyers are probably the type to cut corners and ride higher profit margins on the brand name until it's wrung out and worthless.

A sale to "HSG, formerly known as Sequoia Capital China" is a sale to the CCP. It likely indicates a Chinese interest in acquiring their state-of-the-art technology, not a plan to fire-sale the pieces of the company. There are myriad uses for high end lenses, cameras, and imaging analysis software.

Don't ruin it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pictures may be the devil but the optics are unparalleled.

Leica's Cameras, Optics, image processin and Brand

[williamyf]

Leica Cameras, as in point and Shoot and Profesional Cameras are very good.
Their optics are very good to.
Some of their image processing technologies, like using RYGB sensors (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue) are very interesting.

And, in a world were phones with high end cameras use the Carl Zeiss branding ad nauseam, some phone brands partner with Leica for some needed diferentiation.

All of this is valuable stuff.

$1.2B valuation

[yo303]

It's weird that one Duolingo is worth five or six Leicas.

Duolingo is a lot more profitable 800M, 25% EBITA

[Somervillain]

It's weird that one Duolingo is worth five or six Leicas.

I'd say they're worth more. Leica makes tangible products. Their most famous offering is the photo equivalent of a Rolex, but in a shrinking market and their Japanese competitors make IMO superior products. They have no mass market product and probably are earning more money on licensing (whoring) than anything they're traditionally known for. That's a hard business to be in, even in the best of circumstances. Duolingo? They're a fucking app. Most subscribers come exclusively for content they created

Leica used to make camers, now fashion statements

[BrendaEM]

With Leicas being so expensive, people have to cover the red dot to keep from being killed when even trying to take pictures in a city.