Crocodile war: Lacoste family in French feud on ownership
A family feud at the top of the Lacoste clothing company is pitting father against daughter in a battle for management of the green Crocodile brand.
A family feud at the top of the Lacoste clothing company is pitting father against daughter in a battle for management of the green Crocodile brand.
Michel Lacoste, 69, has decided to seek a court ruling against the company board’s nomination of Sophie Lacoste-Dournel as non-executive president, which he told the daily Le Monde was an “irregular” decision “by an irregular board.”
Lacoste told the newspaper that his 36-year-old daughter, who has studied business and loves theatre and acting, “hasn’t spent a day of her life in a business and is not able to manage a successful company.” He would prefer that his niece, Beryl Lacoste-Hamilton, 56, take over and points out that she has already run several of the firm’s licenced affiliates, which sell a wide range of casual clothes.
When contacted, the Lacoste group declined to comment.
Sophie Lacoste-Dournel was named last Monday by a board elected the same day, which her father claims was stacked against him by a minority shareholder. She said in a statement that “in giving me their confidence, Lacoste shareholders and members of the management board have validated my project for the company.”
The new executive also expressed “great pride at having been chosen to lead the process of generational transition,” and be the “guarantor of the family’s values with respect to shareholders, the company, its staff and partners.”