Hermès Sues Billionaire Heir in Escalating Battle Over Missing $15 Billion Stake
The 82-year-old French billionaire Nicolas Puech, one of the descendants of the founder of Hermès, who wanted to make his Moroccan gardener his heir, is the subject of a new complaint filed this time by the brand itself.
The legal troubles are piling up for Nicolas Puech. After the complaint filed by Honor America Capital, a company representing Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, last March in the District of Columbia, the Hermès International SCA brand itself has filed a lawsuit against the French billionaire. "I have long been certain that Nicolas Puech no longer holds his shares. [...] That is why we have initiated legal proceedings," said Axel Dumas, executive chairman of Hermès, to Business of Fashion. The legal battle is likely to be complicated due to the death of Puech’s former wealth manager. According to Dumas, the shares cannot be recovered.
In the complaint filed by Honor America Capital and consulted by The New York Times, the Emir of Qatar accuses Puech of having broken his contract for the sale of his shares, discussed for several months and signed on February 10. Puech holds a 5% stake in the French luxury retail giant and has agreed to sell more than six million shares, negotiated at $270.89 each, to the Qatari royal family. The latter has asked a judge to order him to honor the sale and pay $1.3 million in damages for "loss of profits, opportunity costs and reputational damage."
The Hermès heir is accused of having delayed the sale twice. According to his lawyer, this delay is explained by his inability to access the shares himself and to transfer them. Previously, he had told the Swiss courts, where he resides, that his shares had disappeared while they were being managed by a wealth manager. Hermès was worth $300 billion in mid-February, after the price of its shares had risen by more than 200% over the past five years, "which makes a 5% stake incredibly valuable."
