Yves Bouvier
Yves Bouvier | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 September 1963 Geneva |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Occupation(s) | CEO, Natural Le Coultre |
| Known for | Businessman and art dealer |
| Parent | Jean-Jacques Bouvier |
Yves Bouvier (born 1963) is a Swiss businessman and art dealer.
Early life
Yves Bouvier was born on 8 September 1963 in Geneva and is the son of Jean-Jacques Bouvier.
Young Yves Bouvier early developed a passion for art, which he was able to appease by joining his father's company, Natural Le Coultre, in the eighties.[1]
Quickly rising in the company, he became assistant manager in 1995 and then managing director in 1997.[2]
Personal life
Yves Bouvier was born in Geneva and is a Swiss citizen.
He moved to Singapore in 2009 where he currently resides.[3]
Natural Le Coultre
Yves Bouvier is the managing director of the Geneva based company Natural Le Coultre.[4]
Founded in 1859 in Geneva, Natural Le Coultre, whose name was Natural Transports at the time, was originally a moving and furniture storage company.
In 1901, Albert-Maurice Natural joins Emile-Etienne Le Coultre. They create A. Natural, Le Coultre & Cie.[5]
In 1946, Jean-Jacques Bouvier, father of Yves, begins his apprenticeship at Natural Le Coultre S.A.[5]
In 1983, the Bouvier family acquires Natural Le Coultre.
In 1989, Jean-Jacques and Yves Bouvier create Fine Art Transports Natural Le Coultre SA in Geneva.[1]
In 1997, Yves Bouvier becomes managing director of Natural Le Coultre SA and its affiliated companies.He sells the moving and furniture storage activities to a local company and focuses the company on storing, moving and preserving pieces of art.[6]
In less than twenty years, Bouvier has transformed a small family storage company, Geneva-based Natural Le Coultre, into the world's largest art shipping and storage business.[7]
Business model
From 2005, Yves Bouvier has started exporting his unique business model abroad.[8]
The Bouvier model consists of "artistic Hubs" regrouping into Freeports facilities for rent and specific services dedicated to art collectors, museums and companies.[6]
In 2010, he inaugurated the first Singaporean Freeport, a 30 000 m2 futuristic safe close to the airport, which he funded along with other Swiss investors and helped design.[8]
In 2014, following the increasing trend of Freeport storage, he inaugurated a brand new 22 000 m2 storage facility in Luxembourg, directly on the Luxembourg airport premises.[8]
Through his company, Natural Le Coultre, Yves Bouvier is the main tenant of the Geneva Freeport and is the majority owner of the Luxembourg and Singapour Freeports, both of which he funded and helped design.[9]
Alleged fraud
On 26 February 2015, it was reported that Yves Bouvier and two other Swiss nationals had been detained in the Monaco on 25 February on suspicion of fraud in relation to the manipulation of art selling prices.[10][11] Bouvier has denied all accusations, saying that the first he knew about the complaint was when he was arrested.
Amongst those who claim to have been affected by the alleged fraud are the Russian billionaire and art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev.[10]
According to Forbes, Rybolovlev spent New Year's Eve with Sandy Heller, art adviser to hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen. Heller mentioned that Cohen had sold a Modigliani nude for $93.5 million to a "mystery buyer", not knowing that the buyer had been Rybolovlev, who had paid Bouvier $118 million. Rybolovlev filed for fraud and money laundering in Monaco nine days later, and persuaded Rybolovlev to meet him there to discuss payment details for a Rothko painting, when he was "ambushed" by eight policemen and arrested.
On 13 March, Reuters reported that Singapore's High Court had frozen his Singapore assets on a global basis, "forbidding him from removing any assets of up to the value of $500 million from Singapore, or disposing any assets whether or not they are in Singapore".[12]
On 25 March 2015, Singapore's High Court partially lifted its freezing injunction on Yves Bouvier's 14 companies and ordered Dimitri Rybolovlev to give a total of $100m guarantee of damages from his action against Bouvier, $20m in cash and an $80m guarantee on the Rothko No. 6 painting.[13][14]
References
- ^ a b "Publiart - Natural Le Coultre, le transport au sommet de son art depuis 150 ans | Culture | WorldTempus" (in French). Fr.worldtempus.com. 2009-10-03. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "NATURAL LE COULTRE SA : inscrite le 24 janvier 1946 : Société anonyme". Rc.ge.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "Staggeringly Over-Priced Modigliani And Leonardo Da Vinci Works Behind Yves Bouvier Case". Artlyst.com. 2015-03-16. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "NATURAL LE COULTRE SA : inscrite le 24 janvier 1946 : Société anonyme". Rc.ge.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ a b Yves Bouvier (2014-06-20). "About us | Natural Le Coultre". Nlc.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ a b Par Catherine Nivez. "Ce visionnaire qui a parié sur l'Asie - Entreprises, Les plus de la rédaction - Bilan" (in French). Bilan.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ Decaux, Anne-Hélène (3 March 2015). "Yves Bouvier Charged With Defrauding Art Collectors". Newsoftheartworld. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ a b c Alexis Favre. "Yves Bouvier: une ascension fulgurante dans le monde de l'art". LeTemps.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "Luxembourg opens art freeport to lure super-rich". Reuters.com. 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ a b Mulholland, Rory (26 February 2015). "Monaco FC owner Rybolovlev among alleged victims of huge art scam". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ Frank, Robert (13 March 2015). "Art scandal threatens to expose mass fraud in global art market". CNBC. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Singapore court orders asset freeze on 'Freeport King'". Reuters. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Marché de l'art: Singapour assouplit le gel des actifs d'Yves Bouvier - Économie". Tdg.ch. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "Art Market Monitor — Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis". Artmarketmonitor.com. Retrieved 2015-04-08.