Luxury Goods Maker Kering Under Pressure After Executive Shake-Up
Summary
Kering, the French luxury goods company that owns brands like Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent, surprised the fashion industry this week when it announced a sweeping reorganization of its top ranks, including the departure of Marco Bizzarri, the longtime chief executive of Gucci, Kering’s premier brand. But the conglomerate run by the billionaire François-Henri Pinault is also under pressure from Bluebell Capital Partners, an activist hedge fund in London that has tangled with luxury titans before, said a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Dan Loeb’s Third Point as well as Artisan Partners called for change at Richemont, the owner of jewelry brands like Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. But the most active recently is Bluebell, a four-year-old, $250 million firm that has also taken aim at Richemont, and the fashion brand Hugo Boss. Bluebell failed to persuade fellow Richemont shareholders to add Francesco Trapani, the former chief executive of Bulgari, as a director, but the conglomerate agreed to give public investors more influence.