“I’ve had the certainty for a long time that Nicolas Puech no longer holds his shares,” Executive Chairman Axel Dumas told reporters during an earnings call on Wednesday.
He said he does not think the stake can ever be restored and that the firm has “started legal proceedings.”
Dumas’ remarks, his most detailed yet on the matter, marked a new turn in the ongoing dispute over the fate of the missing fortune.
Puech, a great-grandson of Hermès founder Thierry Hermès, inherited shares in the company after the deaths of his mother in 1996 and sister in 2004, eventually controlling a 5.7% stake, according to The Telegraph.
But in 2010, as luxury giant LVMH’s founder, Bernard Arnault, mounted a stealthy takeover bid, Puech broke ranks with his family and secretly assisted in transferring some Hermès shares to Arnault, helping the tycoon amass a 23% holding in the company.
Arnault’s attempt ultimately failed and, by 2014, he had agreed to unwind his stake in Hermès. Puech stepped down from the company’s supervisory board that same year, but what became of his shares was never clarified.
The situation is further complicated by the nature of Puech’s inherited holding. Unlike the rest of the Hermès family, who hold registered shares issued in their names, Puech was issued bearer shares, a type of stock that does not list an owner, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Dividends on these shares are typically distributed through intermediaries, often obscuring the trail of ownership, making it difficult for the company to determine who ultimately holds them.
The mystery deepened with a 2023 court case, where the fifth-generation heir claimed he no longer owns the shares in question and placed the blame on his longtime wealth manager, Eric Freymond, accusing him of mismanaging his affairs, according to Fortune.
But a Geneva court rejected his claims, ruling that Puech had voluntarily handed control of his affairs to Freymond and had the power to revoke their agreement at any point. It also found the accusations vague and lacking in supporting evidence.
Freymond, who denied all allegations of wrongdoing, died in Switzerland last week. Meanwhile, LVMH has confirmed it no longer owns any Hermès shares.
The Hermès family, now more than 100 members strong, is among Europe’s wealthiest dynasties. If Puech, who lives in Switzerland and has no children, still holds his inherited stake, he would be the largest individual shareholder of the French fashion house, whose market value exceeded US$300 billion in February.
