Content area
Full text
Bettencourt Put Under Guardianship of Family
PARIS
-- Some birthday present.
Just four days before her 89th birthday, Liliane Bettencourt, France's wealthiest woman, was placed under the guardianship of her daughter and grandsons and is no longer in charge of her own purse strings.
The guardianship judge of Courbevoie, France, on Monday revoked -- with immediate effect -- lawyer Pascal Wilhelm's mandate to handle the affairs of the L'Or(c)al heiress. She was placed under the guardianship of her grandson Jean-Victor Meyers, who is 25 and with whom she is said to be close. Meanwhile, Bettencourt's holdings have been put under the guardianship of her daughter, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, and her two grandsons, Jean-Victor and Nicolas Meyers.
Bettencourt's lawyers said they would appeal the decision.
The development focused the spotlight back on the Bettencourt scandal only 10 months after the mother and daughter declared a cease-fire in their long-running, vitriolic -- and very public -- tussle. However, it did not rattle skittish markets or raise fresh concerns over control of L'Or(c)al, the world's biggest beauty company, in which the Bettencourt family is the largest individual shareholder with an almost 31 percent stake.
"Frankly, I don't think it changes anything," said Eva Quiroga, an analyst at UBS. "Ever since the dissolution of Gesparal [L'Or(c)al's former holding company], Madame Bettencourt's daughter has been quite vocal about wanting to pursue her...