Another “handbag war’ has apparently been initiated over the Hermes brand, by Bernard Arnault. Arnault, who is the richest man in France and owner of the prestigious LVMH Empire of champagne and luxury goods, once fought a “hand bag war” with Gucci. That war was fought over control of Gucci and Arnault eventually backed off.
Now it appears that he has his hands on about 15 to 20 percent of Hermes stock. The stock is very carefully guarded by the Hermes family, but Arnault acquired his through a legal move that kept his identity secret. He used a sneaky derivative method to acquire the Hermes stock without acknowledging his identity.
The manoeuvre is being looked into by the watchdog for the stock market. The watchdog admits that manoeuvres like these embarrass President Sarkovy’s promise of transparency in the market and the investigation will be arduous and complex.
Meanwhile, Hermes has hired a battery of lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, and public relations people to fight Arnault on all fronts. They have even gone so far as to make a public appeal to him to off load shares and pull back.
Arnault’s response was to be offended and offer that his intentions were friendly, even meaning to fend off Chinese and Swiss interest in Hermes. The Hermes family and representatives scoffed at what they said was feigned offense on Arnault’s part, who simply wants a hostile takeover.
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