LVMH Buys Cheval Blanc, From Its Chairman Arnault

LVMH revealed Friday it has acquired a 50 percent stake in Chateau Cheval Blanc, the marquee St Emilion Premier Grand Cru, from a consortium controlled, well, by its chairman Bernard Arnault.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, to give its full name, is the world's leading luxury products group, and already owner of the nearby Château d'Yquem, the greatest sweet wine anywhere.

The deal fits a classic pattern of LVMH of announcing new acquisitions during the August break, and boosted LVMH’s stock by 10 percent on the Paris Bourse, in an otherwise quiet session of trading.

French tycoon Arnault, LVMH’s chairman and controlling shareholder, and Albert Frère, an octogenarian Belgium baron and perhaps Europe’s greatest cross border investor, bought Cheval Blanc back in 1998, reportedly for 155 million Euros, or $145 million at the time.

However no financial terms were made available in the today’s release, which pointedly failed to mention that LVMH was acquiring the Bordeaux wine from Arnault.

The French based group said in a release that it also acquired 50% of the company La Tour du Pin, owner of the Chateau Quinault l'Enclos estate, a separate Grand Cru classé of Saint-Emilion.

Cheval Blanc, largely made of Cabernet Franc grape and thus something of a rarity for a great Bordeaux chateau, merits the maximum, and rarely granted, four stars in the eminent connoisseur Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide, the planet’s most frequently referred to wine book. 2008 Cheval Blanch sells for about £3,000, or $4,700, in current UK auctions.

The venerable Cheval-Blanc won up medals in the London and Paris International Exhibitions in 1862 and 1867 respectively.

In the quality drinks, LVMH also owns champagne marques like Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Krug and Ruinart, hard liquor labels like Hennessy, Glenmorangie and Belvedere Vodka, and a series of emerging Cloudy Bay, Terrazas de los Andes and Cheval des Andes.

A multi-division corporation, LVMH also controls
Louis Vuitton, Celine, Loewe, Kenzo, Givenchy, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs and Berluti in accessories and fashion; Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy, Kenzo and Loewe in perfumes, besides owning significant brands in cosmetics, selective retailing, watches and jewelry.

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