LVMH eager for luxury merger with Richemont

Is the largest luxury group in the world soon becoming even larger? French LVMH is said to be considering a takeover of the world’s number four, Swiss Richemont, which owns luxury brands such as Cartier, Piaget and Yoox.

Numbers one and four

The Swiss luxury group, specialised in high-end watches, has Cartier as the jewel in its crown- and it is no secret that Cartier has long been a firm favourite of LVMH’s CEO Bernard Arnault. Now rumours are circulating that his group LVMH is ready for a takeover. The resulting merger company would be huge: as two of the four biggest luxury companies in the world, LVMH and Richemond have a market capitalisation of 390 billion and 74 billion euros, respectively.

By acquiring the world’s fourth largest luxury company, LVMH would strengthen its position in the jewellery and watch markets. The Franco-Swiss combination would see LVMH’s TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith stand shoulder to shoulder with historic brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC. In turn, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels would come under the same flag as Bulgari and Tiffany & Co.

For now, though, these are just unconfirmed “whispers behind closed doors“, Swiss financial medium Finanz und Wirtschaft reports. Richemont has been managed by Johann Rupert, the son of founder Anton Rupert, since 2006. He did make it clear earlier that he does not (yet) want to give up control of the company.