The private holding company of Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive of LVMH-Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is planning to announce today that it has formed a joint venture with TH Lee, Putnam Capital to create a European leveraged buyout firm that would also make other private investments. TH Lee, Putnam Capital is itself a joint venture between Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P. and Putnam Investments. The partnership is run by Thomas H. Lee, who is best known for buying the Snapple beverage business for $135 million in 1992 and selling it to the Quaker Oats Company for $1.7 billion two years later. Mr. Lee has just raised a $6.1 billion private equity fund, the largest ever. The new venture is the latest involving leveraged buyout firms in the United States to set up outposts overseas. Many firms now say that Europe offers more opportunities than the United States.