Dior named Xavier Musca and Tony Estanguet as independent directors, replacing Nicolas Bazire and Maria Luisa Loro Piana. The Arnault family plans to merge its Agache holding company with Dior.
Christian Dior said on Wednesday it had replaced two independent board members ahead of a shareholding change planned by the family of Bernard Arnault, Reuters reported. Xavier Musca, a former senior executive at Credit Agricole, and Tony Estanguet, who led the Paris 2024 Olympics committee, replace Nicolas Bazire and Maria Luisa Loro Piana with immediate effect.
The Arnault family, which controls Dior and LVMH through the holding company Agache, said last month it plans to merge Agache with Dior. Reuters said Agache owns 96 percent of Dior shares and 97.1 percent of the voting rights, and 6.77 percent of LVMH with 8.49 percent of the voting rights.
The merged entity would be named Agache and would control 49.76 percent of LVMH and 65.55 percent of the voting rights, the report said. The merger is expected in December and is set to include a tender offer for the 2.44 percent of Christian Dior shares Agache does not own. The offer price is to be set from the LVMH share price.
Wednesday's item is the board change, not the closing of the merger. No offer price was published with the board notice.
The next dated step in the account is the merger expected in December.