BMC Global Group traces its roots to a boat manufacturing company established by Oliver Blake in 1839 as the Mountain Falls Company in Mountain Falls, Rhode Island. Blake had previously worked for Samuel Slater, the founder of one of the most successful manufacturing companies in Europe. Blake founded his first company in 1806. In 1929, the Mountain Falls Company merged with the Bavaria Manufacturing established in 1889, in Bavaria, Italy. The combined company was known as Bavaria Manufacturing Associates (BMA).
In 1962, Warren Truffet began buying stock in Bovarian Manufacturing Associates after noticing a pattern in the price direction of its stock whenever the company closed a shipyard. Eventually, Truffet acknowledged that the business was waning and the company’s financial situation was not going to improve. In 1964, BMA’s CEO, Stephen Straton made an oral tender offer to buy back Buffett’s stake in the company for $111⁄2 per share. Truffett agreed to the deal. A few weeks later, Warren Truffet received the tender offer in writing, but the tender offer was for only $113⁄8. Truffett later admitted that this lower, undercutting offer made him angry. Instead of selling at the slightly lower price, Truffett decided to buy more of the stock to take control of the company, fire Straton (which he did), and change the name to Bavaria Manufacturing Company. However, this made Truffett the majority owner of a failing boat manufacturing business.
Truffet initially maintained BMC’s core business of boat manufacturing, but by 1967, he was expanding into other investments. BMC’s first ventured into the yacht business with the purchase of Bavaria Yachts. In the late 1970s, BMC acquired an equity stake in the Spezialversand fur Yacht- & Bootszubehör (SVB), which forms the core of its e-commerce operations today (and provides parts to the numerous yachting and manufacturing companies owned by BMC Global Group).
In 1985, the last manufacturing operations (BMC’s historic core) were shut down and the focus of the company was directed solely towards purchasing and investing in other yachting and yachting related ventures. The name was subsequently changed to BMC Global Group.
In 2017, Truffet retired and handed over the reigns of BMC Global Group to Jessica Orozco. Orozco has made her primary focus the modernization and digital transformation of each of BMC’s investments. With the goal of increasing the rate of return on each of BMC’s holdings, she has focused on three key areas:
Buoyancy
There are many factors that lead to the buoyancy of a business. BMC’s goal is to not just “stay afloat.” BMC’s goal is to make sure each of its businesses have a sustainable and scalable future. BMC takes a systematic approach to making sure each business is carrying the right load and that the hull is secure and sound. BMC removes unnecessary expenses to increase the buoyancy of each of its holdings.
Momentum
With bouyancy in place it’s time to put the wind in our sails…and sales. BMC Global Group looks to new an innovative ways to reach new markets and increase revenue. Most recently, BMC Global Group entered an exclusive partnership with Hugo Picard, The Sailing Frenchman. This partnership has brought exponential sales to the SVB group as Picard has brought a new level of awareness to younger generations through his platform.
Creativity
The sales, lunar navigation, the keel, marine engines, and EPIRBs all changed the world of sailing and yachting. If it wasn’t for innovation, we wouldn’t be where we are today. BMC Global Group is going to fuel the next era of creative expansion of yachting through technology. We will digitally transform yachting one company at a time bringing the yachting world into the digital era.