Tiffany takes things legal and LVMH follows suit
Immediately after LVMH, nudged by France’s minister for foreign affairs, had announced that it would not be able to complete its proposed $16.2 billion acquisition of US brand Tiffany, the two groups began legal action against one another.
Tiffany filed a lawsuit against LVMH in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware. It said LVMH had failed to secure the necessary regulatory approval for its acquisition of the New York-based company in a timely way.
LVMH responded by saying: “This accusation has no substance and LVMH will demonstrate this to the Delaware Court.”
It then said it intended to file a lawsuit of its own against Tiffany because of the way the company’s board and management had handled the covid-19 crisis. Tiffany’s first half results and its prospects for the rest of 2020 “are very disappointing”, the French company said, and “significantly inferior” to those that comparable brands that are already part of LVMH have been able to achieve during this period.
