The Oettinger-Davidoff groupThe Oettinger-Davidoff Group
The title sponsor of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors is indicated on the website of the tournament as the "Oettinger Davidoff Group". What is the "Oettinger Davidoff Group"? The official Swiss commercial registry does not contain any entry for a legal entity called "Oettinger Davidoff Group". Furthermore, the web address given for the title sponsor is www.davidoff.com, which is associated with an individual company, not a group, the Davidoff & Cie SA tobacco company. Puzzled by this situation, we have investigated, and below are our findings.
The "Oettinger-Davidoff Group" informally designates a number of Swiss-based companies that all have in common the use of the Davidoff trademark. While the group's parent company is Oettinger Imex AG in Basel, its center of gravity is the Geneva-based Davidoff & Cie SA tobacco company, which manages the Davidoff trademark on behalf of the group's members. All the companies of the group are chaired by Mr. Reto Cina.
After its acquisition of the Davidoff cigarette trademark in 2006, by far the most important asset of the group, for over half a billion Euros, the multinational Imperial Tobacco has become the driving element of the group, although it keeps its profile very low within the group. It is clearly in the interest of Imperial Tobacco not to appear too closely associated with the Oettinger-Davidoff group, as the multinational does not want to attract attention to a trademark promotion and diversification scheme that very effectively promotes the Davidoff brand worldwide, in those times where tobacco advertising and promotion become more and more restricted everywhere. Switzerland's weak legislation in tobacco control and the tobacco friendly political context in the country, notably in Basel, are advantages that the Oetttinger-Davidoff group, and consequently Imperial Tobacco, prefer to enjoy discreetly.
The following diagram illustrates the entities of the Oettinger Davidoff shows that we have been able to identify, using the official commercial registry.
The members of the Oettinger-Davidoff group
Oettinger Imex AG |
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| Registered office: | Basel, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 1'101’000 |
| Purpose: | Manufacture, import, export and trade of tobacco products and appropriate tobacco-related articles |
| Trade registry: | CH-270.3.002.347-7 |
Davidoff & Cie SA |
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| Registered office: | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 200’000 |
| Purpose: | Trade and import of tobacco and tobacco-related articles, operating of a tobacco retail store |
| Trade registry: | CH-660.0.468.992-3 |
Davidoff Import/Export SA |
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| Registered office: | Fribourg, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 1'000’000 |
| Purpose: | Worldwide purchase, sale and distribution of tobacco products and tobacco-related accessories |
| Trade registry: | CH-217.0.138.687-1 |
Max Oettinger GmbH |
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| Registered office: | Basel, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 20’000 |
| Purpose: | Manufacture and trade of tobacco products and related articles. The company can tacquire holdings in other companies with the same or similar purposes. |
| Trade registry: | CH-270.4.012.932-4 |
Zino Davidoff SA |
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| Registered office: | Fribourg, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 200’000 |
| Purpose: | Trade of all kinds of goods, notably export of the "Davidoff" and "Zino Davidoff" trade marks in all areas, excluding tobacco and smokers’ articles |
| Trade registry: | CH-217.0.136.756-0 |
Zino Davidoff Trading AG |
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| Registered office: | Basel, Switzerland |
| Capital: | CHF 100’000 |
| Purpose: | Trade with goods of all kind, in particular articles of the brands "Davidoff" and "Zino Davidoff”, but excluding tobacco products and smoker’s articles |
| Trade registry: | CH-270.3.013.579-8 |