Geneva, October 4, 2022 – Baghera/wines, Europe’s leading wine auctioneer since 2018 with the sale of Henri Jayer, The Heritage, which fetched CHF 34.5 million, has announced the continuation of its expansion in Asia. With the benefit of an operational office in Hong Kong already, the company has now decided to focus on Singapore. Baghera/wines Singapore Ltd, the new Baghera/wines subsidiary, will be holding wine auctions from December 2022, with a “Wine O’Clock” sale entirely dedicated to Asian customers for which all the wines will be stored on site.
Already both well-established and popular in Asia, Baghera/wines is continuing its international expansion by opening a subsidiary in Singapore. Baghera/wines Singapore Ltd, the Singapore branch of the company, will be responsible for organizing physical sales in the country, as well as online sales called Singapore Wine O’Clock, following the example of the monthly sales (Wine O’Clock) organized by the company in Geneva for the past nearly seven years, and which are now well known to fine wine aficionados.
At the helm of this project is Arthur Leclerc, who has been appointed Director Singapore and has been in charge of task of bringing this new stage of development to fruition for several months now. A key member of Baghera/wines, Arthur Leclerc has seen the company grow exponentially since its creation in 2015. As a loyal collaborator, Arthur has been entrusted with making this new business development happen for Baghera/wines.
A native of international Geneva, Leclerc comes from a family of epicureans and restaurateurs. An insatiable gourmet himself, he completed his studies at the prestigious Geneva Hotel School, where he excelled in the management of wine-related events. He completed his hotel training with two experiences at the Ritz Paris and the Salon de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva. Arthur finally joined the Baghera/wines team during the preparation of the “Henri Jayer, The Heritage” sale in 2017. Endowed with avid curiosity and an unequalled talent for networking, Arthur is considered a young prodigy and enjoys the complete trust of Baghera/wines’ founders.
With a successful presence in Europe, a thriving wine auction sector, and an office in Hong Kong since 2018, Baghera/wines is taking an important step forward by focusing on Asia. As the economic gateway to the Far East, Singapore enjoys a stable economic and political situation and is in the midst of an urbanization boom. The second most densely populated city in the world has thus aroused the interest of Baghera/wines, which sees a constant and passionate evolution in the number of enlightened wine lovers.
Like Singapore, Baghera/wines is full of ideas and plans to invest heavily in logistics, compliance and digital development. The aim is to provide the best possible service to customers in South-East Asia as soon as it is established. Baghera/wines’ teams have been able to measure the particularity of the Asian clientele and its great capacity to welcome sophisticated science, while swiftly excelling in it – but above all its heightened taste, as well as the culture of values inherent to the wine world. Asia has indeed shown both great interest and humility, qualities that have catapulted its population to the highest level of wine-related knowledge in only a few years. For the past several years, Baghera/wines teams have also patiently built a strong relationship with the Singaporean wine community. Both male and female collectors develop their taste and actively participate in all the wine events, both through online sales and live-streaming during the physical sales organized from Geneva.
Michael Ganne, Chief Executive Director and Auctioneer, and Julie Carpentier, co-founder of Baghera/wines, comment on their choice: “Asia, especially with Singapore, is a natural part of our company’s international expansion plans. Southeast Asia is a very popular part of the world for global growth, due to the region’s strong trade infrastructure. With 40% of our online buyers coming from Asia, it becomes crucial for our company to have a strong and active presence there. We have therefore placed our full trust in Arthur Leclerc who will be in charge of developing Baghera/wines’ activities for the South East Asian region. Arthur not only enjoys our full confidence but also possesses the relational, professional and strategic skills required for this important task”.
Arthur Leclerc, Director Singapore of Baghera/wines says: “This is a big project and a task that I will be fully committed to on behalf of Baghera/wines. I have every confidence that this new branch of Baghera/wines in Singapore will rapidly be established thanks to this new horizon, but above all the contacts made here. All the criteria have been met, the economic conjuncture is conducive to the establishment of European companies in Asia, and we are sure that Baghera/wines will very soon enjoy success in this part of the world.”
