Lacoste Family Sells All Of Its Shares

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 13th November 2012

Lacoste Family Sells All Of Its Shares

epa000439178 The statue of Rene Lacoste - one of the so-called French Musketeers together with Jacques "Toto" Brugnon, Jean Borotra and Henri Cochet - between Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court No. 1 (background) at Roland Garros, Paris, Saturday 21 May 2005. The French Open kick-off on Monday May 23rd. |

The famous green crocodile of tennis is now in red and white hands as the Lacoste family sold the rest of their Lacoste shares to the giant Maus Freres textile group of Switzerland .

French tennis champion Rene Lacoste founded the Lacoste brand in 1933, and in 2011 they company reported sales to retailers of $2.1 billion.

The sale may not have occurred if not for a dispute between Rene’s son Michel Lacoste and his daughter Sophie Lacoste Dournel.

Lacoste Dournel was named non-executive chairman of the company in September in a move opposed by her father.

At first Michel Lacoste accused Maus Freres of trying to split up his family, but he then changed his mind and along with his niece Beryl agreed to the sale of 30.3 % of the company for $508 million dollars.

Maus Frères had already owned 35 percent of the group and its licensing business Devanlay.

When he sold to Maus Frères, Michael Lacoste said his family split making its members “unable to live together or organize the governance of this group in a rational way.” The 69-year-old Lacoste added that he was no longer on speaking terms with his daughter and that the 36-year-old Lacoste Dournel had “never spent a single day in her whole life in a company and does not have the abilities needed to run a group that is doing so well”.

But before Michael Lacoste’s sale to Maus Freres could be completed, Lacoste-Dournel was given the pre-emptive right to buy them as part of the company’s shareholding structure. She had until November 12 to raise the money to buy her father’s shares and keep the business in the family, but she was unable to do so.

On November 7 she announced “with great sadness” that she and a group of other family shareholders would sell their 28 per cent stake to Maus. “After studying several options, Sophie Lacoste Dournel and the family shareholders she represents have accepted that any action that pitted two groups of shareholders against each other would harm the interests of the firm and its employees,” the company said in a statement,

Maus Frères now owns 93.3 percent of the firm’s capital. Founded it 1902, Maus Freres operates department stores, supermarkets, drugstore/perfumeries, restaurants, and do-it-yourself centers. It also offers sporting goods, sportswear, and outdoor products.

Lacoste Dournel and the family shareholders she represents will get somewhere between $356 million and $445 million from the sale.

“Our responsibility is to guarantee the stability of the business. We think that Maus Frères, our longstanding partner, is best placed to succeed,” the statement said.

Pro players who wear the brand include the recently retired Andy Roddick, John Isner Richard Gasquet and Milos Raonic.

Last month’s sale valued Lacoste at around $1.6 billion.

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