Hermes minority investors appeal holding company decision

Minority investors in Hermès International SCA are appealing a French regulator’s decision to allow Hermès’s founding family to form a holding company without bidding for the rest of the shares,

Bloomberg News reported.

The holding company has 50.2% of shares in Hermès and right of first refusal on the participants’ remaining shares; 20 family members with a 7% stake or greater opted out, Bloomberg reported. The family created the holding company after LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA acquired a 20.2% stake, fueling speculation that LVMH would attempt a takeover.

The family formed the holding company on the condition they wouldn’t have to bid for the rest of Hermès, and won approval from [French regulators] after arguing that it didn’t change the company’s controlling structure.

(Source: Bloomberg, Jan. 17, 2011.)