Baccarat

Sternlicht stacked Baccarat: crystal factory, hotel brand, and the fund behind it

Begelman marvels at Barry Sternlicht buying the old Baccarat Crystal company, spinning a hotel brand off it, licensing that brand to a Manhattan skyscraper developer, filling the hotel with crystal from his own factory, and backing it all with his own private equity fund.

“He buys the Baccarat Crystal company. It's been around forever. He then takes that brand and he creates a hotel company off of it and he licenses the hotel brand to a development company that builds a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan called the Baccarat Hotel. He fills the hotel with Baccarat Crystal, which he buys from his own factory. And then his private equity fund is the equity behind all these operations.”