Tiffany & Co. to sue LVMH towards completing $16 billion takeover

Tiffany & Co is seeking a court order requiring LVMH to abide by its contractual obligation of completing a $16 billion takeover after the latter declared it would not be able to complete the deal.

LVMH declared that it would not be able to complete the acquisition of Tiffany as its board insists on sticking to the terms of the original merger agreement, which requires completion of the deal by Nov. 24.

The French group pointed out that Tiffany had asked it to postpone the closing of the deal to Dec. 31 of this year after already extending the deadline to Nov. 24.

LVMH added that they also received a letter from the French foreign ministry telling it to delay the Tiffany acquisition to beyond Jan. 6, 2021, due to the threat of additional US tariffs against French products.

Tiffany accused LVMH of deliberately stalling the deal, saying it was in breach of its obligations by delaying the procurement of an antitrust clearance.

Tiffany also rejected LVMH’s stance that it can avoid completing the acquisition since Tiffany had breached its obligations under the Merger Agreement and undergone a material adverse effect, or that the transaction is inconsistent with its patriotic duties to France.

The deal would have been the biggest in the luxury industry, but the pandemic badly impacted the luxury sector. There were also questions about whether the acquisition price was too high.