Louis Vuitton owner LVMH has approached Tiffany & Co with a 14.5-billion-U.S.-dollar acquisition offer, Reuters reported, at a time when the U.S. luxury jeweler grapples with the impact of tariffs on its exports to China.

LVMH, which has for years been looking for ways to expand in the U.S. market, submitted a preliminary, non-binding offer to Tiffany earlier this month, one of the sources told Reuters.

LVMH's offer valued Tiffany at about 120 U.S. dollars per share. Tiffany shares ended trading on Friday at 98.55 U.S. dollars.

Tiffany has hired advisers to review LVMH's offer but has not yet responded to it, and there is no certainty that it will negotiate a deal, according to the sources.

LVMH, which is behind brands such as Fendi, Christian Dior and Givenchy, as well as Veuve Cliquot champagne, has stood out for several years as one of the top performers in the upscale retail sector, where not all labels are benefiting to the same degree from booming Chinese appetite for branded goods.

Tiffany, on the other hand, has not been as resilient. Beyond the tariffs that have been triggered by the trade war between the United States and China, a lower Chinese domestic sales tax has also contributed to double-digit decreases in its sales to Chinese tourists in the United States and in other destinations.

Tiffany has been refreshing its offerings with more affordable items such as pendants and earrings, to appeal to millennials who have been gravitating to lower-priced competitors such as Denmark's Pandora and Signet Jewelers.

Paris-headquartered LVMH is controlled by the Arnault family and is led by Bernard Arnault, France's richest man. Based in New York and best known for its diamond engagement rings, Tiffany operates more than 300 retail stores globally.