LVMH to Take Control of Christian Dior in $13.1 Billion Deal -<br />By ELIZABETH PATONAPRIL 25, 2017<br />LONDON — The LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton luxury empire<br />and the French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced on Tuesday a series of moves to take over Christian Dior in a $13.1 billion deal to consolidate control over the 70-year-old Parisian fashion house.<br />LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group by revenue, already owns Parfums Christian Dior,<br />and the deal would give it ownership of the Christian Dior haute couture, leather, men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, and shoe businesses.<br />The LVMH fashion and leather goods division would then buy Christian Dior Couture for an enterprise value of €6.5 billion.<br />The company called Christian Dior, which owns the brand’s couture business, will continue to exist<br />and will own 41 percent of the share capital in LVMH, plus 56.8 percent of voting rights, making it the conglomerate’s controlling shareholder.<br />The Arnaults’ decision to offload Hermès shares comes nearly three years after the family received stock<br />in the Paris-based luxury leather goods house after an effort by LVMH to build a stake in the company.<br />“The corresponding transactions will allow the simplification of the structures, long requested by the market,<br />and the strengthening of LVMH’s fashion and leather goods division,” Mr. Arnault said in a statement.
