Hermès heir sues LVMH and Bernard Arnault for 14 billion euros

Fifteen years after his raid on Hermès, Bernard Arnault and his LVMH group are caught up in a saga between two French luxury giants: an heir to the accessories specialist, claiming to have been dispossessed of his shares in the family jewel, is demanding 14 billion euros.

Nicolas Puech, 82, a Swiss resident, accuses his former wealth manager, Eric Freymond, who died in July, of having deprived him of his shares for the benefit of his great rival, billionaire Bernard Arnault, 76, and LVMH. One of the great-grandsons of the founder of the fashion house on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris estimates his losses at 14.3 billion euros and filed his lawsuit on 15 May 2025, a judicial source told AFP, confirming a report in Libération.

This is a civil proceeding, but Puech had already brought criminal proceedings against Mr Freymond in 2024. The latter had been placed under investigation by Parisian investigating judges before his death. This investigation "is still ongoing", the Paris public prosecutor's office told AFP. When contacted by AFP, neither LVMH nor Mr Puech's lawyers wished to comment.

Financial arrangements

Specifically, Mr Puech, often described as being estranged from the rest of his family, believes that his former wealth manager dispossessed him of six million shares through financial arrangements.

These shares, inherited from the company founded by his great-grandfather, represent nearly 5.76 percent of the capital, or approximately 14.3 billion euros at the current price.

According to Le Canard Enchaîné on Wednesday, Mr Freymond confessed to French judges last summer, shortly before his suicide, that he had sold 4.8 million of these shares to LVMH in 2008, after several other smaller sales.

The fate of the shares inherited by Mr Puech remains shrouded in mystery. "I have long been convinced that Nicolas Puech no longer has his shares," said Hermès CEO Axel Dumas at the end of July, when questioned after the disappearance of his former wealth manager.

Stock market raid

It could be linked to the historic rivalry between the LVMH luxury empire, owner of the Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior brands, and Hermès, a family-owned saddlery and leather goods manufacturer that has become a luxury titan, famous for its Kelly and Birkin bags and silk scarves.

In the early 2010s, LVMH made a surprise move to acquire a stake in Hermès, taking the market and stock market authorities by surprise by failing to declare that it had crossed several regulatory thresholds, as required. The offensive prompted the family members to unite in a holding company to counter Bernard Arnault's ambitions.

At the end of one of the most memorable sagas on the Paris Stock Exchange, the case ended with LVMH being ordered to pay a fine of 8 million euros, a record at the time, yet a very small amount given the financial clout of the luxury goods giant.

One year after the sanction and after four years of battle between the two giants, LVMH announced its withdrawal from Hermès' capital, pocketing a capital gain of 2.4 billion euros in the process. One of the unresolved questions is whether Mr Puech's shares had been sold or not when Bernard Arnault, the boss of LVMH, discreetly accumulated a stake in his competitor.