And to create the holding company they will need an exemption from having to make a mandatory tender offer for all shares from France's Financial Markets Authority (AMF).
American Machine and Foundry nearly ruined the company and its reputation in the 1970s (ask any Harley aficionado about the infamous "AMF years" and watch them cringe), but the brand rose from the ashes and once more became a top-seller known for high-quality loud bikes.
The AMF has now passed its evidence to the French judicial authorities, and on May 29th preliminary charges were filed by two investigating judges against Noël Forgeard, the co-chief executive of EADS at the time of the disputed share-dealing.
The AMF approach says that Asia is unique in having ample financial resources to handle the external financial difficulties of its weakest regional members.
Courts and regulators responded; and on July 1st the sanctions committee of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the market regulator, imposed an €8m ($10.4m) fine, the biggest in its history.
And the AMF says that no single action by LVMH broke the rules; it was the concatenation of deals that indicated preparation of a financial transaction and that required disclosure.The case harks back to an earlier era when firms routinely snuck up on unsuspecting targets under cover of derivative darkness.
Colette Neuville, an influential French advocate of shareholder rights, has called on the AMF to block the family's move, arguing that it would put non-family minority shareholders at a disadvantage because the value of their shares would be reduced if a majority of the shares were locked up.After Mr Arnault's latest swoop, only about 7% of Hermès's shares are traded on the stockmarket.
There is much talk of common currency baskets and joint intervention arrangements, to replace both the discredited dollar pegs of the past and the costly free floats imposed by the crisis.An Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) is thus beginning to evolve, only three years after the idea was rejected out of hand.
The all-too-evident neighbourhood contagion effects give each creditor country a strong interest in pooling resources with others in order to avoid further disruption.The AMF would have core financing from subscriptions by member governments.
The AMF would redress the IMF's balance from adjustment and toward financing.
As was the case with the AMF in the Asian crisis, the EMF would not be useful in addressing the Greek threat to European Monetary Union (EMU).
