BERLIN — Wella’s minority shareholders may call another extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, after Wella turned down their demand to have a special resolution included in the agenda of the upcoming annual general meeting on May 13.
The minority shareholders’ resolution would have pressed for damages against Procter & Gamble for competing against Wella in the absence of a domination agreement. Procter & Gamble has argued that a domination agreement is not necessary.
According to a spokeswoman for Wella, the shareholders’ demand did not fulfill the required preconditions to have the agenda changed, though she declined to go into further detail.
The shareholders have not yet seen anything in writing from Wella, said Josef Broich, the lawyer representing the minority shareholders. “The next step is that we will call the chairman of the [Wella] supervisory board [also a lawyer] tomorrow,” he said. “He will have to see if the management board violated their duties.”
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Broich said the minority shareholders would suggest that the general meeting be postponed for a few weeks, to allow for the timely inclusion of their resolution. However, he acknowledged that the chances for a postponement were slim, in which case an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting would be called.
The minority shareholders own about 20 percent of the company, though they hold only 180,000 of the voting shares, a tiny percent. “Apparently, Wella argued that they weren’t sure we had the right number of shares or had owned them long enough, but oddly enough they accepted the Merrill Lynch papers confirming our holdings as the basis for our calling an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting last November,” a spokesman for the minority shareholders commented.
Stephen Aulsebrook, co-chairman of Close Brothers Corporate Finance, which represents the minority shareholders, said, “We must look into Wella’s official reasons for turning down the inclusion of the resolution, but we will also be looking to convene an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting. We did so in November with the same group of shareholders, and will do so again.” He estimated that the meeting would be called in early to mid-June. — Melissa Drier
Licari on U.K. QVC
NEW YORK — Louis Licari is going global.
The hair color expert, who launched his nine-item line of hair care products in the U.S. in December, will begin appearing on QVC in the U.K. on June 28 and 29. Licari, who operates salons in Beverly Hills and Manhattan, is also planning to appear on QVC in Germany in August or September as well.
The expansion of Licari’s distribution stems from his success on QVC in the U.S., where Licari products sell as much as $10,000 worth per minute in seven-minute spots; his volumizing items are continual sellouts.
Carla Gervasio, Licari’s business manager for product development, said she estimates that global sales of Louis Licari products will be $5 million to $10 million in the first year of the expansion. — Andrea Nagel