El Encanto Parent Company Bought Up By LVMH

After announcing in August that it was putting itself up for sale, Belmond, the upscale hotel company whose portfolio includes El Encanto in the Riviera, is being purchased by LVMH, the ritzy French company that owns Luis Vuitton, Moët, and Hennessy brands. LVMH will pay $2.6 billion for Belmond, formerly called Orient Express. After acquiring the property from a private owner, Belmond shut down and embarked on a massive reconstruction of the iconic El Encanto property, which once hosted President Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Kennedy Jr. and reopened in 2013.