Dolce＆Gabbana and Shiseido Group Sign a New License Agreement

Milan, Italy, Paris, France– [July 1st], 2016 – Dolce＆Gabbana and Shiseido Group announced on this day the signature of a worldwide exclusive license agreement.
The agreement includes development, manufacturing and distribution of Dolce＆Gabbana’s fragrance, makeup and skincare lines and products by Shiseido Group.
Dolce＆Gabbana and Shiseido Group will officially start the collaboration as of October, 1st, 2016 (subject to antitrust authorities’ clearance).

Shiseido Group, who offer people the most advanced technology and the finest aesthetics, is one of the largest beauty groups in the world, ranking number 5 worldwide.*
Supported by Masahiko Uotani, Shiseido Group CEO, this partnership confirms Shiseido Group's vision for 2020, a mid-long term strategy for accelerated global success through both organic growth and acquisitions.
“We are so proud to enrich our portfolio of prestige brands with such a beautiful luxury fashion brand.
The license agreement is aimed at strengthening our brand portfolio for the sake of future top line growth, which is a part of my VISION 2020 for Shiseido Group. The collaboration of our two companies, with their heritage rooted in such diverse cultures as Mediterranean and Japanese, opens excellent opportunities for creating new exciting values” says Masahiko Uotani.
”The standards, values, coherence and quality of Shiseido Group perfectly mirror the positioning and path that we have decided to take with Dolce＆Gabbana. Hence signing the license agreement with Shiseido represents the ideal choice for the development of our future projects.
We are sure that the level achieved by the Dolce＆Gabbana fragrances thus far, already well-established and significant, will be further enhanced thanks to this partnership with Shiseido, and we anticipate that together we will be able to fully develop the potential we believe we have for growth in make-up and skincare.
We are therefore very happy to announce this partnership, and enthusiastically look forward to collaborating on future projects.” say Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
The negotiations were carried out by Shiseido Group EMEA, Shiseido Group Fragrance Center of Excellence, led by Louis Desazars, President and CEO of Shiseido Group EMEA and President and CEO of Beauté Prestige International. Dolce＆Gabbana’s beauty license will be managed from Paris, Shiseido Group EMEA HQ.
“I am very happy and very proud to welcome such a prestigious brand into our portfolio.
For us it's a unique opportunity to collaborate with an extraordinary and inspiring brand in order to bring to life unique creativity and new product experiences. We expect considerable synergy effects from this alliance as it will take full advantage of the scale of the Shiseido Group EMEA HQ organization.” says Louis Desazars.
By making full use of Shiseido Group’s R＆D ability, it is highly anticipated that Dolce＆Gabbana enhances its product lines not only in fragrance but also in makeup and even skincare business (around 400 million euros turnover in 2015, only in the beauty activities). Shiseido Group will expand its position in the luxury beauty industry and will significantly increase international turnover.

In this transaction, J.P. Morgan Limited served as financial advisor to Dolce＆Gabbana S.r.l. and Rothschild Global Advisory served as financial advisor to Shiseido Group.

DOLCE＆GABBANA S.R.L.
Established in 1985, Dolce＆Gabbana is an international leader in the fashion and luxury goods sector. The founders, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, have always been the creative and stylistic source of the brand's activities as well as those driving the development strategies.
The Group creates, produces and distributes high-end clothing, leather goods, footwear, accessories, jewelry and watches. The brand is present in the Prêt-à-porter sector with Men's, Women's and Children's collections, and in the Alte Artigianalità (High Craftsmanship) sector with Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria and Alta Gioielleria collections.
The only activities entrusted to licensee partners are the production and distribution of Eyewear and Beauty lines.

SHISEIDO COMPANY, LIMITED
Shiseido Group is ranked as the 5th cosmetics company in the world and the 1st in Asia region. Shiseido was founded in 1872 in Ginza, Tokyo, as the first Western-style pharmacy in Japan. The name Shiseido has now come to represent the world’s highest standards of quality, offering people the most advanced technology and the finest aesthetics available. Shiseido offers a global selection of skincare, makeup and fragrance through its well-known brands such as Shiseido, NARS, bare minerals, Clé de Peau BEAUTÉ, Serge Lutens, Issey Miyake parfums, narciso rodriguez parfums, Elie Saab parfums, Alaïa Paris parfum and Zadig＆Voltaire parfums. Shiseido Group brands operates in over 120 countries and regions with 46,000 employees.
Shiseido Group FY 2015 nets sales were of 763.1 billion yen with an Operating Income 37.7 billion yen. Shiseido Group's vision for 2020, a mid-long term strategy for accelerating global success through both organic growth and acquisitions, is aiming for over 1 trillion yen in Y2020.
For more information, please visit http://group.shiseido.com/.

*source: WWD Beauty Inc. ranking among global cosmetics manufacturers in the beauty category, excluding food and daily necessities (April 2016)