LVMH

Tiffany and Co sues LVMH over $16 billion takeover stall

The glittering $16 billion acquisition of Tiffany and Co by the Arnault family-controlled LVMH has descended into legal acrimony in less than a year as the French luxury goods giant accuses the US jeweller of “dishonesty” in its dealings.

Global family businesses are stepping up to the challenge of the deadly coronavirus pandemic by safeguarding staff, adapting production lines and pledging millions of dollars to the medical relief effort.

Lord Bamford (pictured), the second-generation chairman of JCB, said his $5 billion manufacturing family business had been approached by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to see if it can help with the production of ventilators. The machines help the breathing of patients whose lungs have been damaged by COVID-19.

The French family behind the world’s largest luxury group LVMH has made its biggest ever acquisition by adding the US jewellery brand Tiffany & Co to its portfolio for an up-scaled offer of $16 billion.

The $51.5 billion (€46.8 billion) LVMH empire will acquire the $4.4 billion Tiffany for $135 per share in cash, in a transaction with an equity value of $16.2 billion (€14.7 billion). The luxury goods giant increased its offer from $120 per share last month.

CampdenFB celebrates in October the Top 75 leading lights in the family business and family office space over its 75 issues. Last week we profiled the key ones-to-watch in the Emerging Markets of the world. We turned our attention to the inspirational figures in Asia-Pacific in the week before and the major players in the Americas at the start of this series. This week, for the fourth and final section, we focus on arguably the heart of the global community of multigenerational family businesses of wealth—Europe.