Francesco Trapani Leaves Tiffany & Co. Board
The news comes not long after the jewelry company was acquired by LVMH in a $16.2 billion deal.
Francesco Trapani has resigned from Tiffany & Co. board, effective immediately.
“Mr. Trapani indicated that his decision to resign was not the result of any disagreement with registrant’s operations, policies or procedures or any matter related to registrant, but that he was resigning in order to pursue other opportunities,” according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory document on Friday.
Earlier this month LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton struck a deal to buy Tiffany & Co. for $16.2 billion.
Trapani joined the Tiffany board in March 2017. Trapani’s addition to the board was part of a deal with activist investment firm Jana Partners LLC. At the time, Trapani and Jana Partners collectively owned 5.1 percent of Tiffany’s outstanding shares. The addition of Trapani to the board also meant that he would be joining the nominating and corporate governance committee and the search committee formed by the board to find a new chief executive officer for the company. (Tiffany’s former ceo, Frederic Cumenal, stepped down in February 2017.)
The following summer, Trapani helped select former Diesel ceo Alessandro Bogliolo as the new ceo of Tiffany, a title that Bogliolo retains to this day.
Prior to working with Tiffany, Trapani served as chief executive officer and was on the board of luxury Italian jewelry and accessories company Bulgari until 2011, when LVMH acquired Bulgari for roughly $5.2 billion. The deal put Trapani in charge of LVMH’s watch and jewelry activities, where he served as chairman and ceo. Trapani and Boglioli also worked together at Bulgari.
The deal also gave Trapani and members of his family control of 3.6 percent of
LVMH’s share capital. The family later sold off a large portion of those shares.
Trapani’s résumé also includes a stint as chairman of private equity firm Clessidra SGR, where he helped with the acquisition of the Roberto Cavalli brand in 2015, and as an investor in two Italian food companies: an upscale pizza restaurant and an Italian ice cream shop.
Tiffany & Co. declined to comment further.