LVMH scoops up Tiffany for $16.2 billion - CNN

The two companies announced Monday that LVMH will buy the Manhattan jeweler, famous for its little blue boxes and Fifth Avenue flagship store. The French luxury group will pay $135 per share, valuing Tiffany at about $16.2 billion.

A deal had been expected for weeks. Tiffany and LVMH both confirmed in October that they were in talks to combine after Paris-based LVMH reached out with an unsolicited initial offer of $14.5 billion. That was already a premium over Tiffany's stock price at the time.

The deal is one of the largest in the history of the luxury sector and in the career of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Europe's richest man.

LVMH is the world's biggest luxury group and home to 75 different brands, including Christian Dior and Bulgari. Analysts have been bullish on its latest deal, saying that Tiffany is a good acquisition target because of its strong global brand.

"A takeover of Tiffany could make a lot of sense," analysts at Bernstein wrote in a research note last month. While Tiffany is one of the world's best-known luxury brands, analysts say it still has room to grow, particularly in jewelry and watches. And LVMH's deep pockets could help Tiffany turn around after a rocky few years, and fuel its effort to better connect with millennial consumers.

In a statement Monday, Tiffany chairman Roger N. Farah said the deal would give the company "an exciting path forward with a group that appreciates and will invest in Tiffany's unique assets and strong human capital."

The deal would also bolster LVMH's jewelry and watch lineup, which already includes legacy brands such as Hublot and TAG Heuer. It would also boost the French company's presence in the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of its revenue.

LVMH has for years been the top seller of high-end goods, according to a Deloitte analysis published this year. But sales in its jewelery and watch division make up only 9% of the company's total revenue.

Tiffany, a 182-year-old jeweler, employs 14,000 people and operates 300 stores around the globe. In recent years, however, its sales have slumped.

LVMH, meanwhile, has enjoyed much more success among millennials, attracting attention from prominent influencers including Kylie Jenner and Cardi B. It owns major fashion houses such as Fendi and Louis Vuitton, as well as beverage brands Moet and Hennessy. Earlier this year, the conglomerate acquired Rihanna's Fenty and Fenty Beauty fashion and cosmetics lines, which have enjoyed unique success marketing to a diverse swath of young women.

Tiffany and LVMH said Monday that the deal is expected to close in the middle of 2020.

CNN Business' Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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2019-11-25 09:36:00Z
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LVMH scoops up Tiffany for $16.2 billion - CNN

The two companies announced Monday that LVMH will buy the Manhattan jeweler, famous for its little blue boxes and Fifth Avenue flagship store. The French luxury group will pay $135 per share, valuing Tiffany at about $16.2 billion.

A deal had been expected for weeks. Tiffany and LVMH both confirmed in October that they were in talks to combine after Paris-based LVMH reached out with an unsolicited initial offer of $14.5 billion. That was already a premium over Tiffany's stock price at the time.

The deal is one of the largest in the history of the luxury sector and in the career of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Europe's richest man.

LVMH is the world's biggest luxury group and home to 75 different brands, including Christian Dior and Bulgari. Analysts have been bullish on its latest deal, saying that Tiffany is a good acquisition target because of its strong global brand.

"A takeover of Tiffany could make a lot of sense," analysts at Bernstein wrote in a research note last month. While Tiffany is one of the world's best-known luxury brands, analysts say it still has room to grow, particularly in jewelry and watches. And LVMH's deep pockets could help Tiffany turn around after a rocky few years, and fuel its effort to better connect with millennial consumers.

In a statement Monday, Tiffany chairman Roger N. Farah said the deal would give the company "an exciting path forward with a group that appreciates and will invest in Tiffany's unique assets and strong human capital."

The deal would also bolster LVMH's jewelry and watch lineup, which already includes legacy brands such as Hublot and TAG Heuer. It would also boost the French company's presence in the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of its revenue.

LVMH has for years been the top seller of high-end goods, according to a Deloitte analysis published this year. But sales in its jewelery and watch division make up only 9% of the company's total revenue.

Tiffany, a 182-year-old jeweler, employs 14,000 people and operates 300 stores around the globe. In recent years, however, its sales have slumped.

LVMH, meanwhile, has enjoyed much more success among millennials, attracting attention from prominent influencers including Kylie Jenner and Cardi B. It owns major fashion houses such as Fendi and Louis Vuitton, as well as beverage brands Moet and Hennessy. Earlier this year, the conglomerate acquired Rihanna's Fenty and Fenty Beauty fashion and cosmetics lines, which have enjoyed unique success marketing to a diverse swath of young women.

Tiffany and LVMH said Monday that the deal is expected to close in the middle of 2020.

CNN Business' Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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2019-11-25 08:09:00Z
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LVMH confirms deal to acquire Tiffany for $16.2 billion - CNBC

A woman walks past a Tiffany & Co. store at a shopping mall in Beijing, November, 2018.

Mark Schiefelbein | AP

LVMH has reached a deal to buy Tiffany & Co. at $135 a share in cash, or $16.2 billion, in a move that will give the company more access to U.S. luxury consumers.

Confirming the deal, which CNBC first reported on Sunday, LVMH said in a statement that "the acquisition of Tiffany will strengthen LVMH's position in jewelry and further increase its presence in the United States."

It said it would also "transform LVMH's Watches & Jewelry division and complement LVMH's 75 distinguished Houses."

LVMH CEO Bernaud Arnault said that the company intended "to develop this jewel with the same dedication and commitment that we have applied to each and every one of our Maisons. We will be proud to have Tiffany sit alongside our iconic brands."

LVMH shares were trading 1.4% higher Monday morning following the announcement. 

LVMH has built up a large portfolio of luxury brands across different retail sectors, from fashion to perfume. Some of its well-known brands include Moët & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton.

The boards of both LVMH and Tiffany approved the deal on Sunday and the transaction is expected to close in the middle of 2020, subject to approval from Tiffany's shareholders and regulatory approvals.

Tiffany was founded in New York in 1837 and became an iconic jewelry brand in the 20th century, but it has struggled with growth over the last several years. It experienced falling annual sales and profit since 2015, before a revenue turnaround in 2017. The jeweler has also pushed an expansion into China, but experienced a decline in sales in the U.S. and Asia from factors like the U.S.-China trade war.

LVMH has sweetened its bid for Tiffany from an original offer of $120 per share, made in October. That had been rebuffed by the company that said it significantly undervalued the jewelry maker. Shares of Tiffany, the iconic New York-based jeweler, have risen over hopes of a higher priced deal. Shares closed on Friday at $125.51. They had traded at about $140 in the middle of last year.

"It looks like a good match really," Raphael Pitoun, portfolio manager at CQS New City Equity, told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box" on Monday.

"The branding of Tiffany has weakened a bit over the last few years and LVMH has great expertise in helping brands to develop internationally, they did that with Bulgari already — it was not an easy acquisition at the time and they managed to really grow the brand quite strongly over the last few years — so it really looks like a good fit, it makes sense," he said.

—CNBC's Emma Newburger contributed reporting to this story.

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2019-11-25 07:09:00Z
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No winning ticket for Saturday night's $11 million Lotto 649 jackpot - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

TORONTO - No winning ticket was sold for the $11 million jackpot in Saturday night's Lotto 649 draw.

However, the guaranteed $1 million prize went to a lottery player in British Columbia.

The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Nov. 27 will be approximately $14 million.

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November 24, 2019 at 06:15PM

Novartis to buy U.S. biotech The Medicines Co. for $9.7 billion - Reuters

ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis AG (NOVN.S) is buying U.S. biotechnology company The Medicines Co (MDCO.O) for about $9.7 billion, the Swiss drugmaker said on Sunday, as it seeks to expand its portfolio of medicines against cardiovascular disease.

FILE PHOTO: Switzerland's national flag flies in front of the logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

The deal is expected to help to shore up the company’s growth threatened by patent expirations.

Novartis is paying $85 per share in cash, an approximately 24% premium over The Medicines Co.’s closing share price of $68.55 on Nov. 22.

The company said the deal had been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and would be financed through available cash and short- and long-term borrowings.

New Jersey-based The Medicines Co’s top drug candidate is cholesterol-lowering drug inclisiran for heart patients, which could complement Novartis’s growing business with its heart-failure medicine Entresto, a slow-seller to start that has now crossed the $1 billion annual revenue threshold.  

Assuming completion in the first quarter of 2020, Novartis said it expected inclisiran to start to contribute to sales from 2021 and said it had the potential to become one of the largest products by sales in its portfolio.

The deal shows that Novartis is willing to spend billions on not only rare disease treatments, as it did in 2018 when it paid out $8.7 billion to buy gene therapy specialist AveXis, but also for cardiovascular treatments aimed at helping potentially millions of patients.

Novartis has historically had a strong cardiovascular drug franchise, but lost ground when Diovan, once a $6 billion-per-year seller, lost patent protection in 2012 and left the company without an immediate, innovative follow-up product.

The deal fits Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan’s aim of adding bolt-on acquisitions of up to $10 billion to bolster the group’s portfolio of medicines with new products or technologies. 

Novartis also said it expected to continue to expand core margins in the Innovative Medicines division to “mid-thirties” in the near term, and to “mid-to high-thirties” in the medium term.

Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and John Miller. Editing by Jane Merriman

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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November 25, 2019 at 04:00AM

Elon Musk says his Tesla truck glass stunt went fine - in rehearsal - The Straits Times

SAN FRANCISCO (BLOOMBERG) - Were the shattered windows during Tesla's Cybertruck reveal a brilliant viral marketing strategy, or a major screw-up that caught the electric automaker by surprise?

"We threw the same steel ball at same window several times right before event and didn't even scratch the glass," Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk claimed in a Friday (Nov 22) afternoon tweet.

In a demonstration of the truck's toughness late Thursday, long-time Tesla lead designer Franz von Holzhausen wasn't able to dent the door by whacking it with a mallet. But when he threw a metallic ball at the Cybertruck's driver side front window, it shattered.

The crowd gasped. "Oh my f**ing god," said Musk. "Maybe that was a little too hard." So von Holzhausen tried a second, softer throw - this time targeting the truck's rear window - only to see that shatter as well.

It wasn't immediately clear who the supplier of the glass is, or if Tesla made what it called "Armour Glass" completely in-house.

Tesla entered the glass technology business back in 2016, and has an internal group known as Tesla Glass.

Despite the snafu, the Cybertruck got enormous publicity, and scores of customers have placed US$100 (S$136) deposits for a vehicle that won't be in production until late 2021 at the earliest. Meanwhile, automotive glass suppliers are having a field day pitching their services.

Musk later tweeted a video of von Holzhausen hurling a steel ball at the window before the Cybertruck launch, which yielded the results he was expecting. "Guess we have some improvements to make before production," Musk wrote.

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November 23, 2019 at 11:53AM

Tesla 'Cybertruck' has 146,000 orders despite launch mishap: Musk - CTV News

LOS ANGELES -- Elon Musk says Tesla has received nearly 150,000 orders for its new electric pickup truck since the automaker revealed the futuristic vehicle earlier this week to mixed reviews.

The Tesla CEO tweeted Saturday that the company received 146,000 orders for the wedge-shaped "Cybertruck" since is unveiling Thursday night.

Musk said 17 per cent of the orders are for the single-motor model, 42 per cent are for the dual-motor version and 41 per cent are for the tri-motor model.

The much-hyped unveiling went off script when its supposedly unbreakable window glass splintered twice when hit with a large metal ball. Some analysts panned the truck's blocky, angular looks.

Placing an order costs buyers US$100, which Tesla says is fully refundable.

Tesla has said the "Cybertruck," which starts at US$39,900, will be in production in 2021.

146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42% choosing dual, 41% tri & 17% single motor

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2019

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November 24, 2019 at 08:15PM