Hermès Heir of Missing-Shares Fame Sets Up Paris Investment Firm

(Bloomberg) — An Hermès heir, whose claim that his shares in the luxury group went missing is an enduring mystery of corporate France, has set up an investment firm.

Nicolas Puech, a fifth-generation descendant of the founder of Hermès International SCA, established the company called Ferret last month on Paris’ prestigious Champs-Élysées avenue, according to a filing. The firm is named after the Swiss village where the 82-year-old Frenchman lives.

Ferret — set up with an initial capital of €10,000 ($11,782) — carries a broad remit, with a mandate to buy and hold shares and bonds in France or abroad, including sectors like luxury, financial services, industrials or real estate, the filing says. The asset management firm can also provide consulting services in all sectors, including for companies in which the firm is a stakeholder.

Puech holds the title of chairman, and the company can name a chief executive officer to assist him in the running of the firm, according to the filing. A representative for Puech didn’t immediately reply when asked to comment.

The creation of Ferret is the latest twist in the saga involving Puech, who has been embroiled in legal battles and media scrutiny over the whereabouts of about 6 million shares he inherited in Hermès, valued at some €14 billion.

Puech claimed in a French civil lawsuit filed in May that his late wealth manager Eric Freymond sold his shares in the Birkin bag maker to LVMH Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault without his knowledge when Arnault tried to launch a hostile takeover of Hermès about 15 years ago. In a court case in Switzerland against Freymond last year, Puech said he was financially ruined.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE has said that the company and its controlling billionaire shareholder Arnault have never diverted or owned at any moment “concealed” shares of the leather goods maker.

The family behind Hermès was Europe’s richest in 2025, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

–With assistance from Tara Patel.

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