Tiffany Files Lawsuit After LVMH Pulls Out of Takeover
09 Settembre 2020 - 1:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Matthew Dalton
PARIS--Luxury-goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE
said Wednesday it was backing out of its $16.2 billion takeover of
Tiffany & Co, claiming that both Tiffany and the French
government asked it to delay the acquisition beyond the closing
date allowed by the merger agreement.
LVMH said the French foreign ministry had sent it a letter
asking the company to delay the acquisition to after Jan. 6, 2021
because of the threat of trade tariffs from the U.S.
LVMH said Tiffany asked to delay the acquisition until Dec. 31
of this year.
Tiffany said Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit in Delaware
to enforce the agreement, saying the request from the French
foreign ministry has no basis in law.
The merger agreement sets Nov. 24 of this year as the final date
for completing the deal. LVMH and Tiffany had already agreed to
push back the initial deadline from Aug. 24 to Nov. 24.
Tiffany said LVMH hadn't sought approval for the merger in
several key jurisdictions, including the European Union, making
finalization of the deal difficult before Nov. 24
A spokeswoman for the French foreign ministry didn't immediately
respond to a request for comment.
The plan to acquire the American jeweler was the biggest ever
attempted by Bernard Arnault, chief executive and controlling
shareholder of LVMH. It was completed shortly before the
coronavirus pandemic threw the luxury goods market into turmoil.
Over the summer, Mr. Arnault had been reconsidering whether to move
forward with the deal, but the agreement signed between the two
companies appeared to give him little leeway to back out.
Write to Matthew Dalton at matthew.dalton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 09, 2020 07:19 ET (11:19 GMT)
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