Richemont Sells Shanghai Tang as China Prefers Foreign Swank

  • Alessandro Bastagli buys 23-year-old Hong Kong luxury brand
  • Sale is Swiss company’s first luxury-unit disposal in a decade
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
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Richemont has sold Hong Kong-based dressmaker Shanghai Tang, showing that a Chinese name still doesn’t have the same ring to luxury shoppers as a French or Italian one.

Italian fashion entrepreneur Alessandro Bastagli and private equity fund Cassia Investments Ltd. bought the brand, one of the first Chinese fashion labels to seek a global presence, according to a statementBloomberg Terminal Monday. It’s the first sale of a luxury unit by Geneva-based Richemont since 2007, and follows a pledge by Chairman Johann Rupert in November to fix or sell underperforming businesses.