Nicolas Puech, the 80-year-old heir to the Hermès fortune, is reportedly planning to distribute his fortune in an unexpected way.
According to Swiss publication Tribune de Genève, cited by the New York Post, Puech plans to name his “former gardener and handyman,” an unnamed 51-year-old man, as his successor. Pueh, who is unmarried and has no children of his own, will transfer billions of dollars from the Hermès fortune, which is currently valued at more than $220 billion.
Puech reportedly owns between 5% and 6% of the company, putting his net worth between $11 billion and $12 billion, and the Swiss publication reports that he may pass on half of his inheritance to his former gardener. He is said to still be rearranging the benefactors of his estate and may transfer the rest of his money elsewhere.
According to the Tribune de Genève, Puech has already started legal proceedings to make the man his successor. The unidentified man is reportedly of Moroccan descent, married to a Spanish woman and has a family of his own. He will also inherit properties from Puech in Marrakech, Morocco, and Montreux, Switzerland, valued at $5.9 million.
Puech is a fifth-generation heir to Thierry Hermès, who founded the fashion house – best known for its Birkin bags – in 1837 in Paris. He left the supervisory board in 2014 on less than favorable terms when LVMH acquired 23% of Hermès, according to Fortune.
“He resigned because he felt besieged for several years by members of his family who attacked him on several fronts, not only regarding LVMH,” a Puech spokesman said at the time, Fashion Network reported via AFP.
“He had some very bad experiences and he felt very bad and he felt strongly criticized on many occasions, even though he is very attached to Hermès.”
