The company Christian Dior announced on Wednesday the arrival of Tony Estanguet and Xavier Musca as independent directors within the meaning of the Code Afep-Medef. Their co-optation, effective immediately, comes in replacement of two resigning directors, Nicolas Bazire and Maria Luisa Loro Piana.
"Le conseil d'administration de Christian Dior annonce avoir coopté ce jour avec effet immédiat Monsieur Tony Estanguet et Monsieur Xavier Musca en qualité d'administrateurs indépendants", the company Christian Dior stated in a press release.
Tony Estanguet, a former canoeing champion and Olympic medallist, was the president of the organising committee of the Paris-2024 Olympic Games. The first French athlete to have won three Olympic gold medals at three different Games, in 2000, 2004 and 2012, he becomes a member of Christian Dior's performance audit committee.
Xavier Musca, a former senior executive at Crédit Agricole and secretary general of the Élysée under Nicolas Sarkozy, chairs the supervisory board of asset management firm Tikehau Capital. He notably served as director of the Trésor (French Treasury) before joining the private banking sector. Within Christian Dior, he is appointed as a member of the performance audit committee and the governance and compensation committee.
A governance reshuffle linked to the reorganisation of the Arnault group
This governance change comes within a broader context. The company Christian Dior had announced on 23 September the Arnault family group's intention to simplify the structure that controls global luxury giant LVMH.
Financière Agache, the Arnault family's holding company, holds 96% of the capital and 97.10% of the voting rights of the intermediate holding company Christian Dior, as well as 6.77% of the capital and 8.49% of the voting rights of LVMH. This Financière Agache is itself wholly owned by another holding company, Agache. The press release from late September detailed the envisaged mechanism: "l'absorption de Financière Agache par Agache, il est envisagé qu'Agache soit absorbée par Christian Dior, laquelle serait simultanément transformée en société en commandite par actions et renommée Agache." The partnership limited by shares (commandite) structure is recognised for its characteristics that facilitate transmission within a family business.
This simplification plan would trigger the filing of a public buyout offer (offre publique de retrait) for all Christian Dior shares not held by the Arnault group, representing 2.44% of the capital, without the implementation of a compulsory delisting from the Bourse. L'opération would thus bring together the bulk of the Arnault family group's stake in LVMH, representing 50.33% of the capital and 66.27% of the voting rights.
