LVMH与爱马仕握手言和

    法国两大著名奢侈公司之间持续多年的争端终于结束。

    世界上最大的奢侈品集团路威酩轩（LVMH）旗下拥有众多知名品牌，包括宝格丽（Bulgari）珠宝和芬迪（Fendi）手袋等。自2007年以来，LVMH秘密收购了竞争对手爱马仕（Hermès）23%的股份，此举备受争议。从规模上来说LVMH略占上风。本周三，它同意放弃所持的大部分爱马仕股份，并于未来5年内不再收购。

    该协议由巴黎商业法庭（Commercial Court of Paris）提出，两家奢侈品集团于周二晚些时候达成同意，基本上中止了LVMH收购爱马仕的可能性。爱马仕是如今为数不多的几家法国独立奢侈品公司之一，它拥有177年的历史，以上万美元的柏金包（Birkin）而闻名。

    根据协议条款，由法国亿万富翁伯纳德•阿诺特控制的LVMH将向其股东分派所持的爱马仕股份，而LVMH集团最大的股东迪奥（Christian Dior），将转手把这些爱马仕股份分派给自己的股东。伯纳德•阿诺特的家族控股公司阿尔诺集团（Groupe Arnault）也是LVMH的主要投资者，该集团仍将持有约8.5%的爱马仕股份。

    两大集团的高管在一份公告中表示，对这两家极具代表性的法国公司之间的关系得以恢复感到很满意。

    该协议结束了两者之间持续多年的法律纠纷。2010年，LVMH披露其通过股权互换而非直接购买股票的方式积累了爱马仕17%的股份（股权互换可以使LVMH以隐蔽的方式积累股权），此消息一出，爱马仕及其控股家族非常震惊。LVMH历来喜欢收购，在过去20年中已经收购了60个品牌，LVMH称其抱着友好态度，并无全盘收购爱马仕的意图。而爱马仕的东主伯特兰•皮尤彻对这种说法持怀疑态度，公司的主要竞争对手居然成为其最大的外部投资者，这让他非常恼火。

    去年，法国证券监管机构金融市场管理局（AMF）对LVMH处以罚款，原因是未能恰当披露收购爱马仕股份的情况。

    据彭博资讯（Bloomberg）援引未具名消息人士的话报道，LVMH在爱马仕中的股份将为其带来约30亿欧元的资本收益。这两家公司表示，爱马仕股份的分派将于2014年12月20日之前完成。（财富中文网）

    译者：Lina

    The bitter feud that has pitted two of France’s most storied luxury names against each other for years has finally come to end.

    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate with brands ranging from jeweler Bulgari to handbag maker Fendi, agreed on Wednesday to give up most of the controversial 23% stake in Hermès it had quietly built up since 2007 and not buy any new shares in its smaller rival for five years.

    The deal, proposed by the Commercial Court of Paris and agreed to late Tuesday by both luxe groups, all but eliminates the prospect of a takeover of the 177 year-old Hermès, famed for its $10,000 Birkin handbags, and one of the few remaining stand-alone French luxury companies.

    Under terms of the agreement, LVMH, controlled by French billionaire Bernard Arnault, will distribute all of its of Hermès shares to its shareholders, while LVMH’s largest shareholder, Christian Dior, will in turn distribute the Hermès shares to its own shareholders. Groupe Arnault, the businessman’s family holding company and a major LVMH investor, will still hold around 8.5% of Hermès shares.

    In a statement, the companies’ executives expressed “their satisfaction that relations between the two groups, representatives of France’s savoir-faire, have now been restored.”

    The deal ends years of legal wrangling between the two. In 2010, LVMH shocked Hermès, and its controlling family, when it disclosed it had built up a 17% in its smaller rival by means of equity swaps rather than buying shares outright, allowing LVMH to do so in stealth mode. LVMH, an acquisitive company which has bought up some 60 brands in the last 20 years, had long maintained it came in peace and had not intention of taking over Hermès, a claim that was met with skepticism by Hermès patriarch Bertrand Puech, furious at having the company’s arch-rival be it top outside investor.

    Last year, the French stock market regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers, fined LVMH for failing to properly disclose it was buying a stake in Hermès.

    LVMH stands to make a capital gain of around 3 billion euros on its Hermès holdings, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source. The distribution of Hermes shares will be completed by Dec. 20, 2014, the companies said.