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Louis Weedon'S 12% Hermes Equity Holdings Through Stock Swaps

2013/6/24 21:48:00 25

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French luxury goods manufacturer Hermes group confirmed that it had filed a lawsuit against the Paris Commercial Court demanding that another French luxury goods manufacturer, Louis Weedon group, sell its 12% Hermes stake through its stock swap swap. 
 Hermes said that Louis Weedon wanted to get Hermes equity from the beginning, and the stock swap operation was "impure" and became "a tool for cheating the law". Therefore, the group applied to the Paris commercial court to "Cancel" Louis Weedon related operations. 
 October 2010, Louis Weedon suddenly announced the increase of Hermes shares, thus igniting the "war" between the two major luxury goods giants. A survey by the French Financial Market Authority revealed that Louis Weedon bought 4.9% of Hermes in 2001 and 2002, but deliberately concealed it. Since 2008, Louis Weedon has conducted a series of stock swap operations with three French banks. Three banks have bought Hermes convertible derivatives and converted derivatives into common stocks. Finally, Louis Weedon paid the bills in cash, but did not inform the market and financial regulators. 
"P" Hermes has also prosecuted three related banks, asking the three banks to sell the shares they sell to Louis Weedon to the market. 
 Hermes 20% shares began to be publicly listed in 1993. The remaining shares are held by family heirs and a handful of top executives. The Hermes family inherited 73.4% of the group's holdings, but the single heir held no more than 5%. In order to counter Louis Weedon's possible further takeover actions, Hermes set up a holding company on the one hand to bring together the scattered shares of the family heirs. On the other hand, he accused Louis Weedon of the financial regulators and the Paris Procuratorate of the "insider trading" and "manipulation of stock prices" in the operation. 
 at the end of May this year, the French financial market authority decided that Louis Weedon was suspected of "hiding the accounts" and obtained the Hermes equity stake in a "secret way" and recommended a fine of 10 million euros (about 13 million 250 thousand dollars). But Louis Weedon was not identified with insider trading and manipulation of stock prices.