LVMH files countersuit against Tiffany & Co

LVMH has filed a countersuit against Tiffany & Co in the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.

This follows Tiffany’s legal action against LVMH, after the Louis Vuitton owner pulled out of a merger deal citing ‘‘recent developments’’, including a request from the French Foregin Ministry to delay proceedings past the merger’s deadline.

Tiffany has accused LVMH of intentionally delaying regulatory processes in key markets and lodged a request to a court in Delaware, US, to expedite the court case over the proposed merger.

Conversely, LVMH has insisted Tiffany’s accusations are false as Tiffany ‘‘breached its covenants’’ during negotiations and did not ‘‘fully meet its obligations’’.

LVMH said: ‘‘LVMH continues to have full confidence in its position that the conditions necessary to close the acquisition of Tiffany have not been met and that the spurious arguments put forward by Tiffany are completely unfounded.’’