Samsonite enters market for protective mobile device

Hong Kong (May 29, 2014) – Samsonite International S.A. (“Samsonite” or
the “Company”) today announced that it has acquired Speck Products (“Speck”), a
leading U.S. designer and distributor of slim protective cases for personal
electronic devices, from the private equity firm VMG Partners for US$85.0
million in cash, financed by Samsonite’s internal resources as well as its
revolving credit facility. The acquisition enables Samsonite to extend its
brand portfolio beyond its traditional strength in travel luggage products.

“Speck is the second strategic addition we have made
to our growing portfolio of brands this year,” said Tim Parker, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Samsonite. “It is an exciting acquisition for us, as it
marks our first foray outside of what is considered the “traditional’ luggage
space, into a different, yet complementary, product segment. Global smartphone
and tablet shipments are forecast to grow by 14.4%¹ and
15.7%¹ CAGR respectively from 2013-2017, driving the
growth of the protective case market, and with many consumers purchasing
multiple cases for each device they own, there is enormous potential.”

Tom Korbas, President – Americas for Samsonite,
remarked, “Speck, like Samsonite, is a pioneer in its industry and brings a new
dimension to our growing and diverse brand and product portfolio. It has
established a reputation among young consumers for sleek, stylish and innovative
products such as its CandyShell ‘hard-soft’ slim protection case. The
acquisition offers Samsonite the opportunity to participate in the large and
growing smartphone case market, which in the U.S. alone is estimated to be
worth US$2.3 billion² , as well as in the tablet case market, where
Speck is also a leader. With Samsonite’s resources, depth of experience and
well-established distribution capability, we can further strengthen Speck’s
business in the U.S., which contributed approximately 80% of Speck’s sales in
2013, and significantly expand the brand’s presence across Asia, Europe and
Latin America. We also see many possibilities for extending the brand into
adjacent categories, leveraging the appeal that Speck’s creative designs have
with younger consumers and our own expertise in bags.”

Irene Baran, CEO of Speck Products,
added, “We are thrilled about joining Samsonite. Although Speck experienced a
temporary setback in 2013 from its historically strong results when the
business was impacted by an industry-wide overhang in inventory from 2012,
efforts to restructure the business are already well underway. The opportunity
to leverage Samsonite’s established infrastructure and excellence in operations
and marketing will enable us to take advantage of the anticipated strong growth
in the smartphone and tablet industries to position Speck as a global market
leader. With our strong foundation in the U.S. mobile device protective case
market and Samsonite’s geographic reach, we see new and vast opportunities to
grow the Speck brand to its full potential, and reach millions of new customers
around the world.”

Michael Mauzé, Managing Director, VMG
Partners, said, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Speck’s
employees for their dedication and hard work since VMG made its investment. It
has been an extremely rewarding experience working with the talented and
passionate team at Speck, and helping them to build a market leading brand in
their product category. We are confident that the brand will continue to thrive
under Samsonite’s ownership.”

Founded in Silicon Valley, California in
2001, Speck offers a diverse product range that is sleek, stylish and
functionally innovative, and provides superior military-grade protection for
smartphones, tablets and laptops from a range of manufacturers. The brand is
particularly well-known for its award-winning “slim protection’ designs such as
the iconic CandyShell ‘hard-soft’ material case, a technology that Speck
pioneered. For the year ended December 31, 2013, Speck reported net sales of
US$104.8 million.

This is Samsonite’s second strategic
acquisition in 2014. The Company also announced in April that it had acquired
Lipault, a youthful French luggage brand known for its functional and
fashionable products.