Tiffany, LVMH Near Agreement on New Deal Terms -- Update

By Cara Lombardo and Dana Cimilluca

Tiffany & Co. is nearing an agreement to accept a lower price in its takeover by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE that would end a bitter dispute between the luxury-goods companies.

The companies have come to a preliminary agreement on new deal terms that would call for LVMH to pay $131.50 for the iconic U.S. jewelry maker, according to people familiar with the matter. That is down from a prior agreement of $135 a share.

Tiffany's board plans to consider the revised terms at a meeting later Wednesday, and there is no guarantee they will accept them, the people said. Should they accept the revised terms, litigation that erupted over the deal would go away and conditions required for it to close would be reduced, some of the people said. That would pave the way for a new shareholder vote and a closing of the deal possibly by January.

Tiffany agreed to sell itself to LVMH late last year in a roughly $16.2 billion deal. The acquisition represented the biggest bet yet by LVMH under Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who has been its chief executive and controlling shareholder for three decades. But LVMH said in September it was backing out of the deal, blaming trade disputes between France and the Trump administration. Many saw the move as a bid to lower the price.

Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com and Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2020 12:13 ET (16:13 GMT)

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