Leonardo Del Vecchio’s Delfin Initiates Arbitration Process over EssilorLuxottica

MILAN — Leonardo Del Vecchio has officially thrown down the gauntlet. The founder of Luxottica has, through his family holding Delfin, deposited a request for arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce “to ascertain violations” to the Essilor and Luxottica merger inked in 2017. Delfin attributes the violations to EssilorLuxottica and to Hubert Sagnières, chairman and chief executive officer of Essilor until the merger. He is now executive vice chairman of the combined entity. Delfin stated that it demands to “obtain an injunction to respect the agreement until its deadline.” As reported, six months after the merger of eyewear giants Luxottica and Essilor in-fighting between the combined group’s two heads is reaching fever-pitch. An alleged power struggle is pitting Del Vecchio, who founded Luxottica in 1961 and holds 31 percent of voting rights in EssilorLuxottica, of which he is executive chairman, against Sagnières. Del Vecchio is also president of Delfin. In the arbitration request note, Delfin said it “will continue to act in the interest of the company, its employees and all its stakeholders” as it demands “rigorous respect of the agreements and in particular of the governance rules to be “conjoint and equal.” Delfin once again denied any effort to “take control” of EssilorLuxottica, whether “rampant”- a dig at Sagnières, who

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