Louis Vuitton Chairman Joins the Ranks of SPAC Founders

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French luxury goods company Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy (LVMH), is joining the ranks of those establishing Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), CNN reported on the 15th (local time).

According to the report, Chairman Arnault has launched a SPAC named "Pegasus Europe" together with the large French asset management firm Tikehau Capital.

The SPAC establishment also involved Jean-Pierre Mustier, former CEO of Italy's largest financial group UniCredit, and Diego Di Gi?rgi, former head of global investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Tikehau Capital stated in a press release the day before that they are considering acquiring various financial-related companies such as asset management platforms, fintech firms, and insurance companies.

Foreign media reported that the SPAC craze, which started on Wall Street in the U.S., is spreading to Europe as Arnault, who built a luxury empire through aggressive mergers and acquisitions (M&A), enters the SPAC market.

The SPAC established by Arnault is planned to be listed on Euronext in Amsterdam, but the exact fundraising amount has not been disclosed.

A SPAC is a paper company established for the purpose of acquiring companies. It raises capital through an initial public offering (IPO) and lists on the stock market first, then helps private companies enter the market through mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Recently, riding the wave of the U.S. stock market boom, SPACs have been used as a backdoor listing route for private companies, leading to a boom in SPAC formations.

Many celebrities, including PayPal co-founder, former Boeing CEO Muilenberg who stepped down after the 737 Max incident, and billionaire Craig McCaw, have joined in establishing SPACs, resulting in 90 new SPACs being formed in the U.S. last month alone.

Arnault formed the current group by merging Mo?t & Chandon and Hennessy of Dom P?rignon and then merging Louis Vuitton, creating the luxury empire through aggressive M&A.

Arnault's net worth is $137 billion (as of November 12 last year), ranking him as the world's second richest person on Forbes' billionaire list, following Jeff Bezos ($184 billion).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.