Editor’s Note
The iconic Fabergé brand is under new ownership, with U.S.-based SMG Capital acquiring it from Gemfields. The new owner pledges to restore its historic prestige.
A new chapter begins for the Fabergé brand. According to Les Échos, the British company Gemfields, which specializes in precious stones, has sold the famous house to the American fund SMG Capital, led by Sergei Mosunov, for an amount of $50 million. The Russian-British tech entrepreneur said he was “honored” to become “the guardian of such an exceptional and globally recognized brand.” His objective for this acquisition, Sergei Mosunov, is clear: to revive the prestige of this luxury brand, a pillar anchored in Russian imperial history.
For Gemfields, this sale marks the end of an era. The group had bought the brand in 2012 for $142 million from the investment company Pallinghurst. But since the end of 2024, the group has been facing numerous difficulties, including a net loss of $100 million compared to $2.8 million a year earlier, and a revenue decline of about 20%. For its part, Fabergé itself has seen its sales drop by 15%.
The factors explaining these difficulties are multiple. The Gemfields company has been affected by insecurity in Mozambique, a country where it operates an important ruby mine. Post-election political unrest, which worsened last December, subsequently led to a temporary freeze of activity on site and the decision to put Fabergé up for sale. In parallel, the precious stones market has been under increasing pressure, including a collapse in prices of 50% in two years. In China and other countries, demand has fallen, and synthetic diamonds, much cheaper, are booming and weakening the sector.
For Sergei Mosunov, Fabergé’s potential is still considerable. According to him, this acquisition opens the door to “significant opportunities” to put Fabergé back on the international stage, relying on its links with Russia, England, France, and the United States. The brand was founded by the jeweler Karl Fabergé and later became famous with the tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II, offering these luxurious eggs to their wives at Easter. Recently, the brand has attempted to modernize its image through multiple collaborations, from Game of Thrones to James Bond with an egg inspired by the film Goldfinger.