Bernard Arnault's dream shopping list
Already owners of 75 brands, the founder and CEO of LVMH continues to covet a few independent houses. Detailed review of the luxury tycoon's ideal targets.
Since the takeover of the jeweler Tiffany & Co, in January 2021, sealed by the reopening of the brand's New York store last month, LVMH has not carried out any acquisitions. An eternity in a group that has mainly developed by takeover and whose flourishing cash flow could, in theory, capture a number of targets. If Bernard Arnault's buying fever is periodically the subject of rumors - a plan to raid Cartier has been mentioned in recent months - LVMH is more discreetly eyeing a handful of small houses with a prestigious history but run by families who want to keep control of their brands.
Expand the leather goods offer
This is the case of Signoles, which since 1998 has controlled the trunk maker Goyard, a house founded in 1853 and which, in the eyes of the founder of LVMH, would be a welcome addition to the group's leather goods division. The luxury giant has already attempted several discreet overtures towards the company, located at the corner of rue Saint-Honoré and rue Castiglione, in Paris - opposite the Louis Vuitton store in Place Vendôme. All have all come up against an end of inadmissibility. Worse: since 2018, Goyard has implemented a shareholder lock on its capital by instituting so-called "category A" shares, which concentrate 90% of the voting rights on the board of directors.
In the event of the disappearance of the chairman of the board of directors Jean-Michel Signoles, the 75-year-old businessman who has run Goyard with his three sons since 1998, his "category A" shares would vanish, preventing any resale to a potential buyer of these securities endowed with extensive powers.
In addition to its prestigious history, Goyard has the particularity of fully controlling its production chain: its manufacturing subsidiary, Algo, has a workshop in Drôme, near Romans-sur-Isère, the former French capital of leather and footwear. , and announced in 2022 the creation of two factories on the outskirts of Carcassonne (Aude), where the Signoles family is from. A control strategy of the value chain which is also that of the trunk maker Vuitton, flagship of LVMH, which recently bought several of its suppliers.
Expand the range of men's luxury
At the other end of Place Vendôme, again opposite an LVMH store, that of the jeweler Bulgari, operates one of the other houses that have interested LVMH for a long time: the Charvet blouse. Like Goyard, it is a nearly bicentenary house - it was founded in 1838 - and which fully controls the manufacture of its pieces. The Colban family, which bought Charvet in the 1960s, is the former textile supplier of the blouse. Like Goyard, the group is not experiencing any major financial difficulty: its latest accounts available, for the year 2019, show a turnover of nearly 10 million euros, for a net profit of 2.5 million euros. euros.
LVMH's interest in Charvet coincides with the exponential growth of high-end men's ready-to-wear, boosted by gender fluid fashion.
Diversify the great Bordeaux
Already the owner of two Bordeaux châteaux, Yquem and Cheval Blanc, Bernard Arnault has long dreamed of adding a third to his range of exceptional wines. And not least: the CEO of LVMH peeps Petrus, the most prestigious Pomerol, one of the appellations of the right bank of the Dordogne. Petrus has belonged since the late 1960s to the Videlot group, part of the Moueix family, which also controls the Bordeaux wine distribution group Duclot, as well as the K2 hotels and the catering company Experimental.
The entry, in 2018, of the Colombian millionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo, husband of the daughter of the 9th Duke of Wellington Charles Wellesley, Charlotte Wellesley, in the capital of Petrus as a minority shareholder (20%), caused some teeth to cringe at the headquarters of LVMH .
Bet on the long term
Last dream, tirelessly cherished but constantly frustrated: Patek Philippe, the Geneva watch company of the Stern family. Despite repeated approaches, the brand remains fiercely attached to its independence. The only consolation: by buying Tiffany & Co, LVMH found a partnership with Patek Philippe, whose jewelry chain has been distributing items in the United States for more than a century and co-producing limited editions.