The Arnault family, headed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault, has unveiled a plan to simplify the shareholding structure of the luxury conglomerate LVMH through Christian Dior, another family-owned entity. This strategic move involves merging the family's main holding company, Agache, with Christian Dior. Agache currently holds 96% of Christian Dior and 6.77% of LVMH. This simplification aims to consolidate the family's control over LVMH, a goal that has seen the Arnault family's stake in LVMH cross the 50% mark earlier in 2026.
Following the merger of Agache into Christian Dior, Christian Dior will be converted into a limited joint-stock partnership (société en commandite par actions) and renamed Agache. This new structure, Agache SCA, will hold a direct stake in LVMH of 49.76% of the share capital and 65.55% of the voting rights, effectively combining nearly all of the Arnault family's LVMH holdings (50.33% of share capital and 66.27% of voting rights) within a single listed entity. Bernard Arnault and Agache Commandité will maintain their roles as general partners, with Arnault continuing as managing partner, ensuring continuity of control.
The conversion of Christian Dior into a limited joint-stock partnership will necessitate a mandatory tender offer for the Christian Dior shares not held by the Arnault family, which represents 2.44% of the share capital. This cash-only tender offer is anticipated in the first quarter of 2027, subject to approval from the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF). The Arnault family group intends to propose a price equal to 95% of Christian Dior's net asset value, calculated based on LVMH's one-month average share price. Minority shareholders will have the option to tender their shares or remain shareholders in the newly formed Agache SCA, as a squeeze-out will not be implemented. For illustrative purposes, this would have resulted in a price of approximately €469.05 per Christian Dior share based on LVMH's recent share price.
