Unilever sell Fabergé

by Grant Osborne, 30 May 2007

Unilever have sold its entire global portfolio of trademarks, licences and associated rights relating to the Fabergé brand name to Pallinghurst Resources. The deal took place in January this year.

Pallinghurst Resources intends using the Fabergé name to brand precious and semi-precious stones to "create the world’s most powerful gemstone brand." According to the company, "a specialist team is being recruited to establish Fabergé as the world’s most exclusive luxury goods brand".

The future of Fabergé's Brut fragrance is unknown. Unilever sold the US right to the Brut name to Helen of Troy in 2003 but retained the rights to the name in the rest of the world.

Unilever originally acquired Fabergé in 1989 (along with then-Fabergé-owned Elizabeth Arden) for US$1.55 Billion. The last few years has seen Unilever divest all of its fragrance brands including Arden, Calvin Klein and Cerruti.

Update February 2007: It appears Unilever has kept the Brut brand (at least in the UK). The name Faberge has been replaced by Brut Parfums Prestige.