Lawyers of the estranged Hermès heir, Nicolas Puech are in a frenzy. The 80 year old billionaire has announced a bold plan to adopt his 51-year-old former gardener and bequeath him a generous part of his billion dollar fortune. The grandson of the founder of the global fashion empire, Puech owns 5.7% of the company.
According to a story in the Tribune de Genève, Peuch is single, has no children, little contact with his family and considers his gardener (whose name has not been released) as family. Not much is known about the gardener, apart from being of Moroccan origin and has a family. The Tribune de Genève have indicated that adopting (an adult) child in Switzerland will be very complicated, so Puech may have a battle on his hands.
Hermès is worth an estimated $200 billion and listed in France as the third-largest publicly listed company.