PARIS, France — Hermès International SCA Deputy Managing Director Patrick Albaladejo, who helped defend the French luxury-goods maker from a potential takeover by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, has left the company.

Albaladejo quit Paris-based Hermès at the end of February, the 58-year-old said Monday via e-mail. The executive, who was in charge of strategy and image for nine years, plans to focus on teaching and consulting, he said by phone.

With former Chief Executive Officer Patrick Thomas, who stepped down last year, Albaladejo helped protect Hermès after LVMH revealed in 2010 it had built up a stake using derivative instruments that it then converted. Taken by surprise and fearing a takeover, descendants of the bagmaker’s founder responded by pooling their shares into a holding company in 2011 in what Albaladejo described at the time as “a decisive step.”

It proved to be so. LVMH began unwinding its 23 percent stake in December to settle the dispute, which had turned litigious. LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault and his family now own less than 10 percent of Hermès, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Axel Dumas, a member of Hermès' founding family, replaced Thomas as sole CEO last year.

By Andrew Roberts. Editors: Matthew Boyle, Paul Jarvis, Robert Valpuesta.