French luxury goods giant LVMH warned on Wednesday it was set to walk away from its planned $16 billion takeover of U.S. jeweler Tiffany, due to complications arising over the deal, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.
LVMH said that its board had received a letter from the French foreign ministry asking it to delay the acquisition of Tiffany to beyond Jan. 6, 2021 given the threat of additional U.S. tariffs against French products.
LVMH’s statement added that Tiffany had also asked the French group to postpone the closing of the deal to Dec. 31 of this year from an already extended deadline of Nov. 24.
The company said its board had decided to stick to the terms
of the original merger agreement, which states that the deal must be completed by Nov. 24.
“As things stand, the Group would therefore not be in a position to carry out the acquisition of Tiffany,” it said.