Arab Bank Unsuccessful in Bid to Take Over Gucci
An Arab bank has failed to take control of Italian fashion house Gucci’s board of directors, sources close to Gucci said Thursday.
The Bahrain investment bank Investcorp, which earlier this week disclosed that it had snapped up nearly half of Gucci’s stock, elected four representatives to Gucci’s eight-member board of directors. But its bid to expand the board to nine and take a fifth seat, thereby gaining majority control, failed when two court-appointed custodians of a disputed 50% share holding in the firm blocked the proposal.
Former Gucci chairman Maurizio Gucci’s claim that he inherited the 50% stake from his father Rodolfo has been challenged in court and judges have appointed custodians for the stock.
Roberto Gucci, a grandson of the firm’s founder Guccio Gucci, supported Investcorp with his 2.2% share holding. But even with the 47.8% stake that Investcorp had secretly built up over the past eight months, it was not enough.
Stake in Tiffany
The sources said Investcorp had proposed Cosimo Gucci, Roberto’s son, as the ninth board member, but the nomination was blocked by the court-appointed custodians, Milan lawyers Mario Casella and Roberto Polli.
Investcorp acts as a channel for private Arab investment in Western companies. Its past investments include a stake in the U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co.
Earlier this week, Paul Dimitruk, a member of Investcorp’s management committee, said the investment bank expected “to create with Maurizio Gucci a long-term company strategy once his legal problems are resolved,” Dimitruk said.
“Investcorp believes absolutely in the independence of the company and it intends to preserve its trademark, tradition and the high-quality reputation of its products and services,” Dimitruk said.
Investcorp did not say how much it spent buying the Gucci shares, but London’s Financial Times newspaper has estimated the value of the holding at about $135 million.
Guccio Gucci founded the company as a saddlery business in Florence in 1904. Now specializing in luxury leather goods, more than 150 Gucci shops are scattered throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
Investcorp has said it plans to make a statement soon about its investment in Gucci America Inc., which operates the Gucci business in the United States.
