LVMH’s Secret 2002 Hermès Pact: Hermès Heir Alleges Missing Fortune in Court
By Tassilo Hummel and David Gauthier-Villars
The Dispute Over Hermès Shares and LVMH’s Secret Dealings
Sept 17 - In a June court filing, luxury-goods giant LVMH <LVMH.PA> forcefully denied it had ever tried to acquire shares in rival Hermès <HRMS.PA> from that company’s founding-family heir Nicolas Puech, who alleges he was fleeced of his 6% stake – now worth billions – through schemes involving his late wealth manager.
LVMH’s Denial and the 2002 Agreement
"The group never contemplated acquiring Nicolas Puech's stake, let alone against his will," LVMH stated in the filing, responding to a lawsuit Puech filed last year in France.
But LVMH signed a 2002 agreement to purchase the heir’s shares, legal documents reviewed by Reuters show, in a deal LVMH representatives crafted with Puech’s financial advisor, Eric Freymond, who died last year. Further, the records reveal, LVMH and its chairman’s family holding company paid Freymond’s management firm at least $20 million in commissions and fees between 2001 and 2009 as Freymond helped LVMH secretly build a massive stake in Hermès.
The 2002 agreement for Puech’s shares and the scale of the Freymond payments are reported here for the first time. Taken together, they show LVMH’s relationship with Puech’s wealth manager and confidant was more extensive than previously known and raise questions about recent LVMH denials of any attempt to buy Puech’s Hermès stake.
Corporate Rivalry and Stakebuilding
The revelations mark the latest plot twist in a bitter corporate rivalry between the luxury-goods giants dating back a quarter century, when LVMH first started covertly building its Hermès stake. Hermès fended off what it called a hostile takeover by LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault after the billionaire surprised investors in October 2010 by disclosing a 17% stake in the smaller rival. LVMH accumulated as much as 23% in Hermès before agreeing to liquidate its stake in a 2014 truce.
The mystery surrounding the fortune the Hermès heir says is missing continues to play out in Paris courts, raising fresh questions over whether and how his shares ended up as part of the LVMH stake in Hermès.
The Players: LVMH, Hermès, and Nicolas Puech
Bernard Arnault’s Empire
Arnault had built a luxury empire through acquisitions, starting with Christian Dior before taking control of LVMH in the late 1980s, shortly after its founding in a merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. Today, LVMH is the world’s biggest luxury firm, with more than 75 brands selling everything from clothes and leather goods to champagne and perfume, and Arnault is among Europe’s richest people.
Hermès and Its Family Legacy
Hermès, mostly run by members of its founding family, has become one of France's most valuable listed companies, alongside LVMH, thanks to a focus on ultra-wealthy shoppers and the enduring appeal of its handmade Birkin and Kelly handbags, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Nicolas Puech’s Missing Shares
Puech says he didn’t discover his shares had vanished until 2022, after he cut ties with his wealth manager. Last year, he filed a lawsuit seeking €14 billion ($16 billion) in damages from whoever might be found guilty in prosecutors’ parallel probe into his missing fortune – which has targeted Puech’s now-deceased financial advisor and a lawyer who advised LVMH on its covert stakebuilding in the 2000s. At today’s share prices, Puech’s 6% stake in Hermès would be worth about $10 billion.
Puech’s lawsuit names LVMH and its billionaire chairman as defendants, along with companies affiliated with Freymond.
The Legal Battle and Secret Agreements
LVMH’s Legal Arguments
LVMH argued in its June court filing that buying Puech’s shares would have made no sense because it had planned at the time to take the “opposite” strategy of convincing Puech to join a shareholder bloc to influence Hermès, which the heir couldn’t do without his stake. But the documents reviewed by Reuters show LVMH signed the 2002 agreement to buy Puech's shares with the heir’s wealth manager, Freymond, shortly after launching its stake-building effort.
An LVMH spokesman declined to comment on the agreement or its payments to Freymond.
Puech declined to comment, citing the ongoing criminal probe. Hermès declined to comment.
The Death of Eric Freymond
Freymond was fatally struck by a Swiss train in July 2025 as French prosecutors were investigating whether he misappropriated Puech’s shares. Local prosecutors in Bern, Switzerland, investigated the death and concluded it was a suicide. Freymond denied wrongdoing before his death.
MISSING SHARES
The Fate of the Hermès Shares
Exactly what happened to the Hermès heir’s shares – and any money paid to buy them – remains unclear.
LVMH has never said whether it purchased Hermès shares owned by Puech. In its June court filing, LVMH acknowledged working with Freymond to accumulate Hermès shares but said any purchase of Puech’s shares would have been unintentional.
In a previously unreported 2017 Swiss court filing, LVMH said the 2002 agreement to buy Puech’s shares was never executed and that the company was unable to verify that the heir had authorized Freymond to sell the stock.
Legal Investigations and Testimonies
In May, prosecutors told Reuters they were investigating whether Swiss lawyer Alexandre Montavon “participated in the misappropriation of Nicolas Puech's Hermès shares for the benefit of LVMH.”
Prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against Montavon in the ongoing investigation.
Montavon told French prosecutors in May that he advised LVMH on the 2002 agreement, according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by Reuters. At the same time, Montavon also worked closely with Puech’s financial advisor, serving as a board member of Freymond’s wealth-management firm, the lawyer testified.
The 2002 agreement, negotiated with Freymond, called for LVMH to buy millions of Hermès shares from Puech and other family heirs, Montavon told prosecutors.
A lawyer for Montavon said his client denied any wrongdoing and that he was never informed “at the time of the events” that LVMH had purchased shares belonging to Puech.
