The American justice has fixed January 5 as the date of the trial to oppose the luxury giant LVMH to the jeweler Tiffany, thus partially granting the request of the American company which asked for an accelerated treatment of the file.
Read also: LVMH-Tiffany: the underside of a Franco-American clash
The engagement of the two groups, announced at the end of 2019, had made the headlines, but the coronavirus crisis and the trade war ended up cooling the ardor of the French giant.
LVMH announced at the beginning of September that it wanted to give up the merger, triggering a legal battle with Tiffany, which wants the French group to respect its commitments.
The question of deadlines
The first period of this legal standoff focuses on the issue of deadlines, the group of French billionaire Bernard Arnault pleading for normal proceedings, while the American jeweler asked the courts to render a decision before November 24, date on which the transaction was supposed to be concluded.
By announcing the date of the trial on January 5 on Monday, American justice seems to have somewhat acceded to the jeweler's request.
Tiffany immediately welcomed the decision of the Delaware state court to set the trial in January when LVMH asked, according to the American jeweler, a deadline of
"six to seven months
.
"
"We will demonstrate to the Court that LVMH is in flagrant violation of its obligations under a valid and binding agreement and that their argument of a 'material
adverse effect'
is completely unfounded"
, commented the chairman of the board of Tiffany administration Roger Farah in a statement.
The French group for its part said it had
"taken note"
of the court decision.
"LVMH is fully confident in its ability to reject Tiffany's accusations and to convince the Court that the conditions for this acquisition are no longer met,"
the group said.
"In this regard, LVMH will demonstrate over the next few months to American justice that the mismanagement of Tiffany during the Covid-19 crisis constitutes a significant adverse effect
,
"
added LVMH in a
press
release.