LVMH close to buying Tiffany for more than $16.3 billion

PARIS: French luxury group LVMH was hoping to clinch a deal to acquire US jewellers Tiffany on Sunday after bidding more than $16 billion, according to a source close to the deal, confirming press reports.

The deal would cost more than $16.65 billion once debt has been factored in, said the source, confirming reports in The Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The boards of both companies were meeting Sunday to approve the deal, with a good chance that they would both pass it, the source said.

Analysts last week had said that a higher bid would clinch the deal.

If confirmed, it would be the LVMH´s biggest acquisition and would allow the group to bolster its presence in the United States, currently its second-largest market.

Such a deal has been seen as way forward for Tiffany, which has trailed rivals in terms of sales growth in recent years.

LVMH, which is led by billionaire Bernard Arnault, is the owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moet & Chandon.

The revised offer was the second time that LVMH raised it bid for Tiffany, which is something of a New York institution. The jewellers featured in the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany´s.