LVMH Pulls out of Tiffany Acquisition
September 09, 20
(IDEX Online) - French luxury conglomerate LVMH has dramatically pulled out of its delayed $16.2bn acquisition of the jeweler Tiffany & Co, blaming the threat of US tariffs.
Tiffany accused LVMH of deliberately stalling in order to renegotiate the agreement.
It responded by filing a lawsuit to enforce the deal, which was originally agreed last November, before the coronavirus pandemic.
It should have been concluded on 24 August, but was pushed back three months to 24 November.
Tiffany is understood to be asking the courts to order LVMH to complete the deal before that date.
LVMH said the French foreign ministry had asked them to delay the acquisition because of the threat of the US introducing trade tariffs in January 2021.
The deal would have been the biggest ever acquisition by LVMH - Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton - eclipsing its purchase of the Italian watchmaker Bulgari for $5.2bn in 2011.