Hermès's Gen 6 leader vows to battle with LVMH

Axel Dumas, a member of the sixth generation of the Hermès family, commented publicly for the first time on the company’s fight against luxury conglomerate LVMH, calling it “the battle of our generation,” the


Financial Times

reported.

Dumas was named Hermès’s co-CEO with Patrick Thomas at the company’s annual meeting. Thomas is set to retire by the end of January, the

FT

article said.

Thomas said at the meeting that the decision to float a minority stake on the stock exchange 20 years ago was “a mistake,” the

FT

report said.

LVMH gradually built up a 22.6% stake, including 12% that it acquired via converting cash equity swaps into shares in 2010. Hermès aims to have the swaps declared legally invalid. The company has said it wants LVMH to sell out or reduce its stake to about 15%, the article said.

France’s stock market regulator has called for the maximum penalty of 10 million euros against LVMH for breaching disclosure rules, the

FT

article said.

The Puech, Dumas and Guerrand families, comprising more than 75 descendants of the founder, own 72% of the shares in Hermès, the article said. (Source:

Financial Times,

June 4, 2013.)