Lacoste: former CEO of Conforama replaces José-Luis Duran

Lacoste changes heads with the surprise departure of José-Luis Duran, replaced by former CEO of Conforama, Thierry Guibert, the parent company of the group, Swiss company Maus Frères, announced this Saturday 16 January.

José-Luis Duran "will be leaving his role at the group to dedicate himself to some personal projects," Maus said in a press release, not divulging any further reasons for this departure.

At the end of 2012, Maus took over 100% of the capital of the French brand created in 1933, an operation that placed the value of the company at one billion euros.

Thierry Guibert, 44 years old, spent the bulk of his career at Kering (ex-PPR). He received a diploma from Reims Business School (1995). He started his career as an auditor at KPMG from 1995 to 1999, the year that he joined the PPR group (which became Kering). Successively, he was group management control director in 2003, financial director, then general director of FNAC between 2006 and 2008. In 2008 he became CEO of Conforama, where he led the merger with South Africa's Steinhoff in 2011.

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A member of the PPR's board of directors between 2008 and 2011, since May 2011 he was the executive director and a board member of Steinhoff.

For his part, José-Luis Duran was the mind behind the acquisition of Lacoste by Swiss group Maus under heated circumstance for the brand with the crocodile!

There are some who speak of a superseding. Beyond Lacoste's own management, José-Luis Duran seemed to be the Maus' trusted representative for their investments in the fashion world. As such, he was the manager the Maus Frères International holding company. But maybe he's received a more interesting offer elsewhere...

Jean-Paul Leroy (with the AFP)