The Swiss luxury watch retailer Chronext wants to raise funds for further growth by going public.

The young company, which sells used and new watches from brands such as Rolex, Omega or Patek Philippe via an online platform, is aiming for a listing on the Swiss SIX in the fourth quarter, as Chronext announced on Friday.

As part of the transaction, the company wants to place new shares with a volume of around CHF 250 million.

In addition, the existing shareholders, which include a number of financial investors and the founders, are also likely to sell shares.

According to an insider, these could reach a volume of around 100 million francs.

Chronext did not provide any information on the targeted market value.

According to earlier statements by insiders, this could reach up to one billion euros.

Boost from the internet

The corona crisis has given the luxury watch trade on the Internet a boost. The business is also receiving tailwind from longer-term drivers. “We are currently seeing millennials as impulse buyers who are predestined for online purchases,” Chronext boss Philipp Man told Reuters. According to Kepler-Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox, the secondary market is growing faster than the market for new watches and has a volume of around 20 billion dollars. "It is mostly online, transparent and attracts younger buyers who trade in the products and invest in watches as an asset class." More and more manufacturers would cast off their skepticism about this business.

Chronext, founded in 2013, grew by 18 percent to 101.3 million euros in 2020.

In the current year, the company is aiming for an increase of around 40 percent.

Half of the proceeds from the IPO should flow into acquisitions and the other half into the existing business.

So far, the company has mainly been active in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Great Britain; France, Italy and the Netherlands were added last year.

Chronext also wants to enter the Asian and US markets.

"These markets are highly fragmented and offer takeover targets."

Important branch in Cologne

The company currently has over 120 employees. The headquarters are in Switzerland, but most of the operational business is still carried out from Cologne. The company plans to break even in operational business in the medium term. Jefferies and UBS are in charge of the IPO. Bank of America and Deutsche Bank are also involved.

Chronext sees itself as a luxury company and also offers customers the opportunity to view the watches in one of their boutiques before buying them and to pick them up there after buying them online. Experts also check the watches for authenticity. Competitors include the German Chrono24, the Richemont subsidiary Watchfinder, the American WatchBox and Ebay. Karlsruhe Chrono24 recently took prominent new investors on board ahead of a possible IPO. The start-up investor of LVMH major shareholder Bernard Arnault, Aglaé Ventures, also took part.