LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, has rejected recent allegations
it was trying to destabilise Hermes, its smaller luxury rival. LVMH’s statement
comes in the wake of comments made by Hermes Chairman Bernard Puech, who has called
on LVMH to halve its 20 percent Hermes stake and said Hermes had been the
target of “incessant attacks” in an interview published in Le Figaro on Monday.

LVMH, which has been accumulating stakes in Hermes since
2008 and revealed its move last year, has repeatedly denied it would like to
add the brand to its luxury goods empire. LVMH said it was keen to forge a
dialogue with Hermes, and that it was not in the group’s interest to
destabilize the company. 

“It would be folly on our part to hamper the success of this
great brand,” LVMH vice president Pierre Gode said in a statement to the media.
At the Hermes AGM in Paris, Gode added:
“LVMH has no intention of aggressively taking control of Hermes. I make the
wish that these artificial, sterile and groundless quarrels stop.”

However, Hermes Chairman Puech dismissed efforts by LVMH to strike a
conciliatory tone regarding the Hermes affair. To defend itself from what it considers a hostile move by LVMH, Hermes’s controlling family is said to be girding itself to set up a holding company to control more than 50 percent of the maker of fine silk scarves, watches and high-end leather goods.

Referring to LVMH’s stake building, Bernard Puech told Le Figaro: “What bothers us is the way they did it. So we ask them to sell half of their stake to re-establish our stock market float.” 

“After six months, we are the
target of incessant attacks of the kind we’ve never seen in 174 years, even
though LVMH says its approach to us is friendly,” he said. “With friends like
these, who needs enemies?”

LVMH

Via [Reuters]