Herm¨¨s Billionaire Set To Leave Half Of Fortune To Ex-Gardener, Cut Ties With Charity

Nicolas Puech, an heir of the Herm¨¨s luxury handbag dynasty, is currently embroiled in a public dispute with the charitable foundation he established.

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What is the matter?

Reports suggest that Puech intends to reduce the foundation's funding and, instead, adopt his 51-year-old ex-gardener, planning to bequeath him billions.

Nicolas Puech, an 80-year-old descendant of Thierry Herm¨¨s, the founder of Herm¨¨s in 1837, is undergoing the legal process to adopt the former gardener formally and intends to allocate half of his €12 billion (?10.3 billion) fortune to him, as per Swiss media reports.

Puech, lacking biological heirs, is seeking to annul a "succession agreement" with a charity he founded in 2011 to support "the protection and promotion of public debate."

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Statement of the Isocrates Foundation

The Isocrates Foundation, where Puech serves as president on a six-member board, publicly opposed the founder's move to nullify the inheritance contract. The foundation emphasised that it cannot assess the process or context surrounding reports of Puech's intention to adopt his ex-employee.

"From a legal standpoint, the abrupt and unilateral annulment of a succession agreement appears void and unfounded," the foundation said in a statement. "The foundation has opposed this move while leaving the door open to discussion with its founder and president."

The Isocrates Foundation, established to finance and champion "public interest journalism and media organisations dedicated to enhancing investigative journalism," along with civil society entities committed to "responsible digitalisation and a healthy digital public space," clarified its mission.

It said that as a Switzerland-based charity, it is "under the authority and surveillance of Swiss Federal supervisory board for foundations".

He refers to his ex-gardener as his 'adopted son'

Puech, who is estranged from most of his family, recently began the legal process of formally adopting his unnamed former gardener and handyman, according to Swiss newspaper Tribune de Gen¨¨ve. The newspaper said the unnamed man of Moroccan origins is married with two children, and Puech refers to them as his "children" and "adopted son".

A lawyer for Puech told Bloomberg that his client may hold a press conference "to separate the fact from the fiction and to dispel some of the nonsense that has been reported in the media".

Puech is thought to own about 5.7% of Herm¨¨s' shares. The stock market value of Herm¨¨s has soared amid a boom in demand for luxury goods since the pandemic. Herm¨¨s shares have almost quadrupled since spring 2020, giving it a €209bn market value and making Puech's stake worth just under €12bn.

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