Key facts
- LVMH signed a secret 2002 agreement to purchase shares from Hermès founding-family heir Nicolas Puech.
- Puech alleges his 6% stake in Hermès, now worth about $10 billion, was taken through schemes involving his wealth manager.
- LVMH representatives crafted the 2002 agreement with Puech's financial advisor, Eric Freymond.
- LVMH and its chairman's family holding company paid Freymond's firm at least $20 million in commissions and fees between 2001 and 2009.
- LVMH denied in a June court filing that it ever tried to acquire Puech's stake.
- Puech filed a lawsuit last year seeking €14 billion ($16 billion) in damages.
Luxury-goods giant LVMH signed a secret agreement in 2002 to purchase shares from Nicolas Puech, an heir to the founding family of rival Hermès, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters. Puech alleges that his 6% stake, now valued at approximately $10 billion, was acquired through schemes orchestrated by his late wealth manager, Eric Freymond.
LVMH has publicly denied any attempt to acquire Puech's stake, stating in a June court filing that the group "never contemplated acquiring Nicolas Puech's stake, let alone against his will." However, the 2002 agreement, crafted with Freymond, and substantial payments made by LVMH and its chairman's family holding company to Freymond's firm between 2001 and 2009, suggest a more extensive relationship than previously disclosed.
Puech discovered his shares were missing in 2022 after severing ties with Freymond. He subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking €14 billion ($16 billion) in damages, targeting those potentially responsible in a parallel French criminal investigation into his missing fortune. The investigation has focused on Freymond and a lawyer who advised LVMH during its covert stake-building in Hermès in the 2000s.
LVMH's chairman and CEO, Bernard Arnault, has a history of building luxury empires through acquisitions. The rivalry between LVMH and Hermès dates back a quarter century, intensifying in 2010 when LVMH disclosed a 17% stake in Hermès, which it later liquidated in a 2014 truce. The exact fate of Puech's shares and any proceeds from their sale remains unclear, with LVMH stating in a 2017 Swiss court filing that the 2002 agreement was never executed and it could not verify Puech's authorization for Freymond to sell the stock.