LVMH plans counter lawsuit against Tiffany & Co

LVMH has announced it plans to file a counter lawsuit against Tiffany & Co after the collapse of a takeover deal.

Tiffany & Co filed a lawsuit against the company after LVMH cancelled its proposed $16.2bn (£12.4bn) acquisition of the French luxury retailer earlier this week.

The initial lawsuit was filed after LVMH issued a statement revealing it would go ahead with the acquisition, which “came as a surprise” to Tiffany & Co.

The parent company, which owns the likes of Dior and Givenchy, cited ‘‘recent developments’’ in its reasoning for calling off the deal, including a request from France’s Foreign Affairs Ministry due to a US plan to impose tariffs on French and European goods.

Tiffany & Co has accused LVMH of breaching “obligations relating to obtaining antitrust clearance” for the deal.

In a statement released yesterday (10 September), LVMH said: ‘‘LVMH was surprised by the lawsuit filed by Tiffany. LVMH considers that this action is totally unfounded.

‘‘It has clearly been prepared by Tiffany a long time ago and communicated in a misleading way to shareholders and is defamatory. The long preparation of this assignment demonstrates the dishonesty of Tiffany in its relations with LVMH.’’

They added: ‘‘This accusation has no substance and LVMH will demonstrate this to the Delaware Court. On this matter, the filing in Brussels will take place, as expected, in the following days and this is simply the result of the planning fixed by the European Commission, about which Tiffany is completely aware.

‘‘It is legitimate to expect this authorisation will be obtained in October.’’