For luxury goods company Richemont, whose brands
include watchmakers Jaeger-LeCoultre and Baume&Mercier,
raising money was not a priority. It did, though, have a
delicate timing problem. It owned 27.7% of British American
Tobacco. But it also held just over 120 million convertible
preference shares into BAT due to mature in June 2004 with a
redemption price of 675p. If, at maturity, the shares were
trading below 675p, Richemont would redeem the bonds and
...
