LONDON - Bonhams, the privately owned British fine art auction
house, has acquired Butterfields, US auctioneers, from eBay, Inc.
The agreement includes the purchase of 100 percent of
Butterfields' stock, including Butterfields' traditional auction
business, and certain real estate occupied by Butterfields in San
Francisco and Los Angeles.
The acquisition extends the global brand name of Bonhams, which
was founded in 1793.
With galleries in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, the new US
company will continue to trade as Butterfields. The acquisition
was funded entirely from Bonhams' own resources, without recourse
to external borrowing. It comes just a year after Bonhams merged
with Phillips Auctioneers and now creates a global company with
800 employees and annual sales of more than $250 million.
Robert Brooks, the group chairman of Bonhams, said, "This
acquisition makes Bonhams a truly global brand and positions the
company in the highest league of the international market. Since
it was founded in 1865, Butterfields has grown to become one of
the largest and most highly respected companies in American and
the auctioneer on the West Coast.
"With almost 20 separate areas of collecting covered by
Butterfields sales, none of which is duplicated by our existing
operations in North America, our acquisition of the company gives
Bonhams a great base from which to build our business."
Brooks said that areas in which both companies were particularly
strong included Nineteenth and Twentieth Century pictures; wine;
jewelry, where each company accounted for a significant
percentage of market share; in Asian art, where, notably,
Butterfields recently auctioned a Vietnamese bowl for $1.1
million; and arms and armor, where Bonhams sold a Colt pistol for
a record £222,250 and where Butterfields leads the world market.
"We will build on these and our many other strengths and bring
new levels of client service and international marketing to the
business," he added.
Laura King Pfaff, chairman of Butterfields, said, "We are excited
to become a part of the distinguished Bonhams family. We look
forward to continued growth in our established sales categories
and welcome the opportunity to support and leverage business in
the Americas."
According to eBay, the acquisition of Butterfields in April 1999
facilitated eBay's entry into the fine and decorative art and
collectibles categories. The purchase also helped eBay reach out
to a new class of buyers and sellers. In September 2000, eBay and
Butterfields launched eBay's Live Auction technology, bringing
the excitement of the traditional showroom auction to Internet
users.
