France’s LVMH wants to buy jeweler Tiffany for $14.5 billion

French luxury group LVMH has offered to buy Tiffany & Co. for $14.5 billion in cash, sending shares in the New York jewelers soaring.
The purchase would add another household name to LVMH’s plethora of upscale brands. It owns fashion names such as Christian Dior, Fendi, and Givenchy as well as watchmaker Tag Heuer.
It would also give LVMH a much broader foothold in the United States and broaden its offerings in jewelry.
LVMH cautioned in a brief statement that “there can be no assurance that these discussions will result in any agreement.”
Tiffany said the offer was for $120 a share, which is about $14.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the offer over the weekend.
The New York-based company said yesterday that it was considering the offer. Its shares jumped 31% to $128.81 in premarket trading in New York.
The offer comes as Tiffany has struggled with stagnating sales as China’s slowing economy has weighed on spending by Chinese tourists, who make up a substantial portion of luxury spending. The strong dollar has also made Tiffany products more expensive for consumers outside the U.S.
LVMH competes with the Kering Group, which owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, and Richemont SA, which owns Cartier.

Art | Masterpiece found in French woman’s kitchen sells for $26.6M

An old painting found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman, who considered it an icon of little importance, has made her a multimillionaire.
The work, a masterpiece attributed to the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue that was discovered earlier this year, sold for 24 million euros ($26.6 million) yesterday [Macu time].
Dominique Le Coent of Acteon Auction House, who sold the masterpiece to an anonymous buyer near Chantilly, north of Paris, said the sale represented a “world record for a primitive, or a pre-1500 work.”
“It’s a painting that was unique, splendid and monumental. Cimabue was the father of the Renaissance. But this sale goes beyond all our dreams,” Le Coent told The Associated Press.
An auctioneer spotted the painting in June while inspecting a woman’s house in Compiegne in northern France and suggested she bring it to experts for an evaluation. It hung on a wall between the kitchen and dining room.
The woman will now receive “the majority” of the sale money, the auction house said.
The expected sale price had been 4 million to 6 million euros ($4.4 million to $6.6 million).
Le Coent said experts were off the mark because it was the first time a Cimabue had ever gone under the hammer. “There’s never been a Cimabue painting on sale so there was no reference previously on how much it could make,” he explained.
Titled “Christ Mocked,” the painting measures about 10 inches by 8 inches.