Gucci, the embattled Italian fashion company, will enter discussions with LVMH over an $81-a-share cash offer from the French luxury goods group that values Gucci at $8 billion (€7.34 billion).
LVMH, which paid $1.4 billion this year to amass secretly a 34.4 per cent stake in Gucci, tabled its $81 offer on Sunday night. The bid followed an initial offer of $85 a share, forced from LVMH on Friday by the news that Gucci had negotiated a deal for Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, the French retail group, to acquire a 40 per cent holding for $2.9 billion.
The new bid includes the shares issued to PPR, which is controlled by Mr Francois Pinault, a former ally of Mr Bernard Arnault, LVMH's chairman, which were excluded from last week's offer. Gucci's shares soared by €6.70, or 10 per cent, to €73.30 in Amsterdam, where the company is registered, yesterday after the board announced it had received LVMH's second offer and would give it "serious consideration".
After the stock market closed, a Dutch court ruled that Gucci must consider the $81 offer. It also insisted that this should be done by Gucci's original board, without the additional nominee directors PPR was entitled to appoint under the terms of Friday's deal.
