Louis Dreyfus family feud goes to court

Members of the Louis Dreyfus family, who own one of the world's largest commodities traders, have gone to a Dutch court in an effort to exit from the 165-year-old business. They are dissatisfied with the leadership of the group's chairman, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who married into the family,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

A faction within the family want to reduce their stake from 20% to about 3%, the article said. The court case involves “a seemingly technical argument over who can be involved in valuing the family's stake in the company,” the

Journal

article said. “That gives Ms. Louis-Dreyfus more time to raise the money she needs to buy the family out.”

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus is seeking an investor, the article said. “But she is doing so at a time when the company's valuation has fallen on the back of weaker commodity prices.”

The

Journal

report noted that “Commodities have been under pressure since 2011, and years of family bouts and executive turnover have taken a toll on the company as it steers a course through the downturn.”

Citing unnamed sources, the

Journal

said Margarita Louis-Dreyfus's “swift rise in the company following the death of her husband, Robert, in 2009 hadn't been anticipated by either him or his wider family.”

Before he died, Robert Louis-Dreyfus set up a trust that held his controlling share of the family holding company that controls a majority stake in the commodities trader. The trust was overseen by a family foundation with three “protectors” who could decide whether to distribute income. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus was one of the protectors. In 2010, the other two protectors resigned and were replaced after she accused them of having conflicts of interest, the

Journal

article said.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus became chairman of the supervisory board of a holding company controlled by the trust in 2011. She then became more involved in the business, the

Journal

article said.

Soon after Margarita Louis-Dreyfus became chairman of the holding company's supervisory board, family members sued the trust, saying they were being denied information. The court ruled against the family in that suit, the

Journal

article said. (Source:

Wall Street Journal

, Nov. 4, 2016.)