Colony Investment Management is in talks to buy a 60% stake in Galerie Perrotin, the contemporary art business created by Emmanuel Perrotin, as the French dealer seeks funds to expand.
(Bloomberg) — Colony Investment Management is in talks to buy a 60% stake in Galerie Perrotin, the contemporary art business created by Emmanuel Perrotin, as the French dealer seeks funds to expand.
The real estate investor, headed by Nadra Moussalem, and the French entrepreneur are in exclusive negotiations with a transaction likely to close in the second half of this year, they said in a statement Monday, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News. Perrotin will keep a 40% stake in the business and said he plans to remain in charge.
“The art market has experienced an enormous revolution in the past few years, but there’s still lots to come,” Perrotin said in an interview, citing changes brought on by digitalization. “We need to boost our activities throughout the world and conquer new geographies.”
The business, founded in 1990, represents well-known contemporary artists including Takashi Murakami, JR, Xavier Veilhan and Sophie Calle. Perrotin has galleries in eight cities including Paris, Tokyo, New York and Shanghai, with another scheduled to open in Los Angeles later this year.
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The deal terms under discussion weren’t disclosed. The business had €140 million ($151 million) in sales in 2022, has always been profitable and has no debt, the 55-year-old Perrotin said.
The transaction comes after global art sales increased by 3% in 2022, reaching an estimated $67.8 billion, according to a UBS report. Some of the artists represented by Perrotin have grabbed headlines in recent years, notably Maurizio Cattelan, who duct-taped a banana to a wall during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. The Italian artist is also exhibited at the Bourse de Commerce, the art museum of billionaire Francois Pinault that opened two years ago in Paris.
Moussalem said Colony’s expertise in real estate will help Perrotin achieve his ambitions, adding that the fund was drawn to a business whose revenue is balanced between various regions of the world.
With Colony’s backing, Perrotin said he could consider opening galleries in cities like Zurich, London, Bangkok or Istanbul, or look at buying rivals. He expects more consolidation among art galleries.
In recent years, Perrotin expanded to include the sale of prints, books and other ancillary products. “The idea was to democratize contemporary art, which can be intimidating for some,” he said.
As part of its push to diversify revenue and expand services for clients, Perrotin also plans to open a storage facility in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris. That plan was delayed after squatters occupied the space for more than two years, he added.
The deal announcement comes as collectors and dealers flock to Art Basel in the Swiss city this week.
–With assistance from James Tarmy.
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