Auction House Phillips de Pury Sold To The Russians

Over the past couple of years Russia's new wealthy have made some big moves in the art world. Most recently, as my colleague Jared Paul Stern reported that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich will be bankrolling a major Francis Bacon exhibition at his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's new Moscow art gallery in 2010. Now auction house Phillips de Pury has been sold to Mercury, a Moscow-based luxury goods group. Phillip's founder Simon de Pury will still remain as chairman and will have a share in the company. This isn't Phillips's first spin with a luxury conglomerate, it was was briefly owned by LVMH. For Phillips, the new owners will provide a big influx of capital so that Phillips can continue adding to their contemporary art auctions and it will also likely bring some important auctions to Moscow.