PARIS: French luxury brand LVMH announced on Monday it will be a “premium sponsor” of the 2024 Paris Olympics, allowing the organizers to practically reach their sponsorship target of €1.24 billion ($1.37 billion). LVMH becomes the sixth top-tier domestic sponsor, alongside communications company Orange, electricity provider EDF, banking group BPCE, pharmaceuticals company Sanofi and retail giant Carrefour. “I have the honor of officially announcing that we are now committed to being a premium partner for the 2024 Paris Olympics,” Antoine Arnault, one of the five children and heirs of LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, said. He made the announcement at a news conference in Paris attended by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, Paris 2024 chief organizer Tony Estanguet, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and France’s sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera. With Wednesday marking one year to go until the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, the late completion of the deal with the world’s biggest luxury group created great interest in France. “There were many wild theories about the reasons why it took so long,” Antoine Arnault told AFP. “We didn’t want to just be a financial partner, we wanted to have a role to play in the holding of these Olympic Games.”