Deal enhances London company's global brand name
London & San Jose, CA August 1, 2002 -- Bonhams, the privately-owned British fine art auction house, continues its remarkable growth with the announcement today that it has acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America from eBay Inc. The agreement includes the purchase of 100% of Butterfields' stock, including Butterfields' traditional auction business, and certain real estate occupied by Butterfields in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The acquisition confirms London, England-based Bonhams, which was founded in 1793, as a leading force and the most dynamic company in the auction industry worldwide.
With galleries in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, the new U.S. 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 an annual sales turnover 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 America and the auctioneer on the West Coast. We look forward to working with our new colleagues, with whom we demonstrably have great synergy in terms of expertise, professionalism and friendliness. Together, we will make our company the auction house of choice for buyers and sellers of fine art worldwide.
"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."
Mr. Brooks said that areas in which both companies were particularly strong included 19th and 20th 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 armour, 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, the 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."
A spokesman for eBay Inc. said 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.
"Butterfields has played an important role in the evolution of the eBay marketplace," said Geoff Iddison, CEO of Butterfields. "Today's transaction
allows Butterfields to partner with one of the world's leading traditional auction houses while eBay strengthens its strategic focus on its role as an
online marketplace manager."
The sale to Bonhams of Butterfields and its wholly-owned financing subsidiary closed on July 31, 2002. The sale to Bonhams of certain real estate currently occupied by Butterfields is expected to close in Q4 of this year. Financial terms of the two transactions were not disclosed, however, they are not expected to have a material impact on eBay's Q3 or Q4 2002
consolidated financial results.
eBay also confirmed that based on its current business outlook, the sale of Butterfields and certain real estate assets will not impact its most recent
financial guidance for Q3 and the full year 2002 or its guidance for the full year 2003. Accordingly, the Company's financial guidance provided on July 18, 2002, continues to be appropriate.
Bonhams is one of the three surviving Georgian auction houses in London. It was founded in 1793 by Thomas Dodd, a renowned antique print dealer and Walter Bonham, a book specialist. In the 1850s, the firm expanded to represent all areas of antiques including jewelry, porcelain, furniture, arms and armour and fine wines. In 2000, Bonhams merged with Brooks, another London-based family firm of auctioneers specializing in the sale of vintage motor cars.
The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. Today, Bonhams is the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques remaining with British ownership. Robert Brooks and Nicholas Bonham are now respectively Group Chairman and Deputy Chairman, their fathers having worked together at Bonhams in the 1950s.
Bonhams operates across all sectors of the fine art, antiques and collectables market, including classic motor cars and motorcycles. It has four salerooms in London: New Bond Street, Knightsbridge, Bayswater and
Chelsea and a further 11 throughout the UK. Sales are also held in the U.S., Switzerland, Monaco, Germany and Australia, and the company has a network of offices and regional representatives offering sales advice and valuation services in 14 countries around the world. A full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of more than 40 Bonhams specialist departments,
can be found at www.bonhams.com .
Butterfields Auctioneers, established in 1865, is one of the world's largest auction houses and the West Coast leader, specializing in the appraisal and sale of fine art, antiques and objects in all collecting categories.
Butterfields was founded in San Francisco on the site of what is now the TransAmerica Pyramid and during the Gold Rush era, began to offer supplies to ships at anchor in the San Francisco Bay. As the city prospered, fine art and furnishings were added to the mix. Over the years, Butterfields' auctions were held at several locations in San Francisco - Van Ness and
Mission, Sutter at Van Ness and 660 Third Street - before the company moved to its current location on San Bruno Avenue in the center of San Francisco's
design district.
Butterfields opened a second gallery in Los Angeles in 1988 to serve the active Southern California market and, in 1998, expanded to the thriving Midwestern region through a merger with Dunning's, a prominent Illinois auction house in operation since 1896.
About eBay
eBay is the world's online marketplaceTM. Founded in 1995, eBay created a powerful platform for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and businesses. On any given day, there are millions of items across thousands of categories for sale on eBay through auction or fixed price formats. eBay enables trade on a local, national and
international basis with customized sites in markets around the world.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to eBay's ability to grow its business and user base. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the company's need to manage an increasingly broad range of businesses, to deal with the increasingly competitive environment for online trading, to manage regulatory and litigation risks even as its product offerings and geographies expand, to maintain site stability and continue to expand its model to new types of merchandise and sellers, to continue to expand outside of the U.S., as well as the timing and commercial success of new features and functions added to the company's sites, the price and demand for advertising offered by the company, the success of the company's commercial partners, and the costs of announced and prospective joint ventures, acquisitions and other commercial transactions. Additional factors that could cause or contribute to such differences and that relate to the announced acquisition of PayPal, Inc. include the possibility of delay or non-closure, the reaction of each company's user base to the acquisition, the future growth and identified risks relating to PayPal, and the possibility that the future integration of the two companies will be more difficult or costly than expected. More information about potential factors which could affect the company's business and financial results is included in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2002, and its other S.E.C. filings and
prospectuses. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to the company on the date hereof, and the company assumes no obligation to update such statements.
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