Richemont Asks Shareholders To Reject Bluebell’s Board Nominee

ZURICH, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Richemont has asked its shareholders to reject a candidate put forward by Bluebell Capital Partners for election to the luxury group’s board at its upcoming annual general meeting.

Bluebell is seeking a board seat for Francesco Trapani, former director of Italian luxury brand Bulgari and co-founder of Bluebell, at the meeting to be held on September 7.

The activist fund wants Richemont, owner of the Cartier brand, to focus on jewelry and watches, saying it could double its share price in the medium term.

Bluebell also wants to increase the minimum number of board members to six and have an equal number of representatives of shareholders who own type “A” and “B” shares on the board, while Richemont chairman Johann Rupert , owns all of the unlisted B shares, which represent 51% of the company’s voting rights.

“After careful consideration, the Board of Directors recommends voting against the nomination of Bluebell’s nominee as representative of the ‘A’ stockholders and against the election of this individual to the Board of Directors,” Richemont said Monday.

“The board further recommends voting against the amendments to the company’s articles of association proposed by Bluebell,” the company added, and instead nominates independent director Wendy Luhabe as a representative of those shareholders.

Bluebell told Reuters last month that it has invested in Richemont for a year and a half and has a stake worth 105 million Swiss francs (107.51 million euros) (Reporting by John Revill; French version Dina Kartit, edited by Kate Enteringer)