LUXURY fashion house LVMH — the owner of Louis Vuitton — is close to buying jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co for about $16.3bn (£12.7m).

LVMH, which also owns Dior and Moet & Chandon, is nearing an agreement to acquire the US jeweller for $135 per share, in a deal that is expected to be announced later today.

Jewellery is one of the fastest growing parts of the luxury goods market and the purchase, which would be the largest in LVMH's history, would strengthen the company's watch and jewellery division, which includes Bulgari, Hublot and Tag Heuer.

Earlier this month Tiffany rejected a $120 per share, allcash offer from LVMH to buy the company, saying the $14.5bn bid significantly undervalued the firm.

It was reported last week that LVMH had persuaded Tiffany to provide it with confidential due diligence after it raised its bid to close to $16bn. The iconic jewellery chain, which was founded in New York in 1837 and made famous by the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, had suffered from slumping sales and profit since 2015, before a revenue turnaround in 2017.

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