LVMH buys Donna Karan for £171m

LVMH has bought another upmarket brand - Donna Karan International.

The group is paying around $243m (£171.4m) for the business.

DKI will be combined with Gabrielle Studio, which licences the Donna Karan trademarks and was bought by LVMH in January.

Donna Karan will continue to act as chief designer and retain her creative leadership in the combined business, DKI says.

She and her husband Stephan Weiss have agreed to exchange a significant portion of their DKI shares for shares in the combined entity.

LVMH intends to continue to operate DKI as an autonomous lifestyle company in the LVMH Fashion Group.

According to DKI, the $10.75 share price being paid by LVMH represents a premium of 26% over the $8.50 per share price originally proposed.

It is a 120% premium over DKI's stock price in December on the last day before LVMH first proposed the merger.

The Karan name joins a large number of luxury goods owned by LVMH, including Kenzo, Givenchy, Tag Heuer, Thomas Pink and Krug. These cover products from frocks and shirts to watches and champagne.