L'Oréal and LVMH move closer on a stake in Armani Group

Armani Group is reported to be moving closer to selling a stake in the business, with talks now under way involving L'Oréal and LVMH. The process follows terms set out in the will of founder Giorgio Armani, who died in September 2025 at the age of 91 after leading the house for five decades.

Armani's will specified that 15% of the company must be sold within 18 months of his death, a deadline that now falls in early 2027, and a resolution depends on Armani Group agreeing price and structure with one or more of the three named parties before that deadline lapses, with meetings between the parties expected within weeks.

It named three preferred buyers: L'Oréal, LVMH and eyewear group EssilorLuxottica, without dictating which one, or how many, should take the stake.

Armani Group chief executive Giuseppe Marsocci addressed the timetable on the sidelines of the Giorgio Armani show in Milan on 27 September. He said it was "not written in stone that it has to be one investor," and that no decision has been made on how the stake will be split.

What Armani Group has said

Marsocci said the group intends to respect the timetable Giorgio Armani set in his will, but that any deal would depend on reaching agreement on "price and details" with whichever buyer, or buyers, end up involved. Meetings with LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica are due in the coming weeks.

L'Oréal's position is the most advanced of the three on record. Chief financial officer Christophe Babule told analysts at the company's Capital Markets Day in December 2025 that L'Oréal was considering the investment opportunity, without committing to a figure or a structure.

Babule said the group was "quite honoured by the consideration of the heirs of the family towards their willingness to see L'Oréal investing in their company." He added that he could not disclose more at the time, but that it was the kind of opportunity a leader in luxury beauty has to examine.

The L'Oréal relationship with Armani is the oldest of the three. The two companies joined forces in 1988 to license Armani beauty products, building out a line of make-up, skincare and fragrance under the designer's name that has run for almost four decades.

That licence was renewed in 2018 and extended through to 2050, giving L'Oréal a long-dated commercial stake in the Armani name well before any equity stake is agreed. It is the kind of existing partnership that makes L'Oréal a natural, rather than opportunistic, bidder.

Why LVMH is in the running

LVMH's interest is alongside a track record of buying prestige houses cheaply and holding them for decades, a pattern we traced back to Bernard Arnault's one-franc Boussac deal that delivered Dior in 1984. The group posted €84.7 billion in 2024 revenue across 75 houses.

Family control of LVMH itself was locked in by a 2023 restructuring of Financière Agache, which gives the Arnault family 50.01% of capital and 65.94% of voting rights for decades to come, even as Bernard Arnault has named no successor among his five children.

Armani, founded by Giorgio Armani in 1975, remains a privately held Italian house specialising in high-end clothing, accessories, fragrance and home decor, and it has stayed outside the conglomerate structures that now dominate much of the luxury sector.

That independence is part of what makes the sale notable. In our mapping of the sector's second-tier players, we noted that EssilorLuxottica alone controls roughly 80% of branded eyewear and makes glasses for most major fashion houses under licence, a scale that gives it its own reason to want equity in Armani.

Armani Group, L'Oréal and LVMH have all been approached for comment on the reported talks, and none has issued a formal statement confirming terms.

What we have covered on LVMH's dealmaking

We have tracked LVMH's recent corporate moves closely, including the Arnault family's plan for a €1.63 billion Dior buyback aimed at simplifying control of the group, and the appointment of Matthieu Soudan as managing director of jeweller Repossi.

We have also followed the group's board-level manoeuvring beyond its own houses, including Nike's addition of LVMH's Alexandre Arnault to its board as that company's turnaround continues, part of a broader pattern of Arnault-family figures taking outside roles.

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Image: Armani