L'Oreal: An 87-year-old billionaire heiress, an aging gigolo, a family feud, allegations of tax fraud and mental incompetence: only in New York, the French might have thought.
But Paris is where Liliane Bettencourt, owner of a 30 percent stake in cosmetics giant L'Oreal, is being sued by her daughter, and the case has some local ingredients: possible pressures on the judiciary, illegal campaign contributions, wire-tapping and presidential meddling.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers alleges that her mother, the only child of the founder of L'Oreal, has fallen under the unsavoury spell of a 63-year old French celebrity photographer, to the point of bequeathing him a jaw-dropping one billion euros.
Liliane protests that she is sound of mind and spirit, and can do whatever she pleases with her fortune. Besides, Françoise will hardly notice the loss once she inherits her stake in L'Oreal, worth 14 billion euros at current market prices.
This is excellent grist for the gossip mill but doesn't sound like presidential matter. But Nicolas Sarkozy has got involved for two reasons. A bad one: one of his top cabinet members is being accused of accepting financial contributions from the L'Oreal heiress and his wife just resigned as a manager of the Bettencourt fortune, amid talk of tax tricks.
And a silly one: the French president rationalises his meddling by hinting at worries that the French group will be sold to the Swiss Nestlé , which owns 29.6 percent and is bound to Bettencourt in a shareholders’ pact.
In reality, the French president shouldn't touch the case with a 10-foot pole. Concerns about the future of L'Oreal don't make sense.
Nestlé isn't in a hurry to increase its stake, and can't do it as long as Liliane is alive. When the time comes, the Swiss have pre-emption rights on the Bettencourt shares - which it may choose to exercise or not.
But L'Oreal's future is not at stake. Even if it were, it should be none of Sarko's business. As often, it looks like Sarkozy is losing an opportunity to do what would be best: abstain.
