LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault has reportedly bought a stake in the luxury rival that owns Cartier, sparking rumors of a possible takeover battle.
The mercurial French billionaire — whose $197 billion net worth currently ranks him as the world’s third-richest person, according to Forbes — took a stake in Swiss-based Richemont that’s too small to force a public disclosure, two people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Reps for LVHM and Richemont didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sources told the FT Arnault’s stake “does not signal any particular move on Richemont.”
Nevertheless, Arnault lately has stoked speculation that he has his sights on the company, whose holdings also include Chloe, Piaget, Montblanc and the Net-a-Porter fashion site.
In January, Arnault called Richemont’s longtime chairman Johann Rupert — who controls the company with a 51% voting stake — an “outstanding leader,” even as he hinted cryptically at a prospective deal.
“I understand he wants to remain independent,” Arnault said. “I find that very good. If he wants support to maintain his independence, I’ll be there.”
However, Rupert — a 74-year-old South African billionaire also renowned for his shrewd business dealings — has “no interest in any sort of tie up,” according to an analyst at European bank Kepler Cheuvreux, Reuters reported.
That’s despite the fact that the analyst is “sure LVMH is interested and has the financial resources to do a deal.”
A second Swiss bank analyst told Reuters that Arnault would like to acquire Richemont and it would be “the missing jewel in his crown.”
Asked about future acquisitions in a lengthy Bloomberg Businessweek profile this week that broke the news of the Richemont stake, Arnault also said he had “ideas for the future,” but didn’t get specific and added that “we don’t need to do it.”
Paris-based LVMH has bought stakes in rival companies before. In 2010, he took a surprise stake in Hermes — home to the famously pricey Birkin bag.
LVMH relinquished the stake in 2014 after Hermes’ controlling family refused to sell.
In 2021, Arnault completed a $15.8 billion acquisition of Tiffany, adding to the LVMH luxury empire, whose labels include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs and Sephora.
