⁍ France’s presidential palace asked Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to send luxury goods company LVMH LVMH.PA a letter advising it to defer its acquisition of U.S. jeweller Tiffany.

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⁍ LVMH’s $16 billion purchase of Tiffany hit the rocks earlier this month after the French company said it could not complete the deal by a Nov. 24 deadline.

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– France’s presidential palace asked the country’s foreign minister to send a letter advising luxury goods company LVMH to delay its acquisition of Tiffany, two sources tell Reuters. LVMH’s $16 billion purchase of Tiffany hit the rocks earlier this month after the French company said it could not complete the deal by a Nov. 24 deadline, triggering a legal battle between the two firms. LVMH cited, in part, an official foreign ministry request to delay closing the deal to January amid trade tensions with the United States. The letter requesting the delay was signed by Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to US legal filings by Tiffany and LVMH. The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Elysee Palace, President Emmanuel Macron’s office, had asked Le Drian to produce the letter. The Elysee declined to comment. Asked by Reuters about any interactions between the Elysee Palace and the foreign ministry over the letter, LVMH did not directly address the question. An LVMH spokesman repeated previous statements denying the company had solicited the letter, and said reports that it did were malicious rumors. “We formally deny these unfounded rumors,” he said, referring to reports of LVMH playing a role in the letter. The spread of the coronavirus has dealt a huge blow to the luxury sector and raised questions about whether LVMH was overpaying with its $135 a share offer. LVMH said after the deal fell apart that Tiffany had significantly underperformed LVMH’s own comparable brands in the first half of 2020, and said the US group’s prospects for 2020.