English"LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton" SA (LVMH), the world"s largest luxury item maker (in terms of turnover), acquired 17.1% of "Hermes International" SCA. LVMH acquired 15 million shares of "Hermes" (14.2% of the company), and options that would bring it an additional 2.9% stake upon conversion into shares. The deal was valued at 1.45 billion Euros (USD 2 billion).
LVMH did not disclose the identity of the seller of the stake in "Hermes", a company which is mostly owned by the founding family.
LVMH officials say they are not looking to take over "Hermes International", but analysts are not convinced.
Last week, LVMH announced it does not intend to make a tender offer to shareholders of "Hermes", to acquire a controlling interest or to seek representation on the board of the company.
The management of LVMH acquired 5% of "Gucci Group" in 1999, stating that it did not intend to launch an offer for the majority stake, but later increased its stake to 34% of the Italian company in just a month.
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