Family members mobilize after voting in the shareholders' meeting with arbitration suits against corporate management.
The headquarters of Swarovski in Wattens, Tyrol.
The crystal group Swarovski remains in troubled waters: After around 80 percent of the shareholders had agreed to a change in the corporate structure at the end of October, the oppositional family members in the crystal dynasty are now taking the first announced legal remedies: “Several arbitration suits have been brought in in Austria and Switzerland” a spokesman for the opposition group told the business magazine “trend”.
In addition, an application for a special examination had been submitted to the Innsbruck Regional Court. The approach of the corporate management is described as an attempt of an “internal hostile takeover” under the pretext of the corona crisis. The opposition members – which include Gerhard, Paul, Helmut and Nadja Swarovski – continue to insist that unanimity would have been required for the vote on the structure, and that the shareholders were not fully informed.
The legal validity of the appointment of Swarovski CEO Robert Buchbauer is also questioned. The new corporate management is accused of an “aggressive, ruthless style without the slightest willingness to enter into dialogue”.
Buchbauer saw the result of the vote at the shareholders' meeting on October 30th as a legally binding resolution. According to the CEO, a family holding company is to be created with its headquarters in Wattens. With the entry of Swarovski International Holding (SIH), based in Switzerland, into the Daniel Swarovski limited partnership, all necessary structural reforms could be carried out quickly, in a targeted and solid manner. At the same time, the property rights of all shareholders would be preserved. The SIH is in fact held entirely by the family holding company (SAH). The opponents within the family, however, identified the new structure as a migration of all decision-making power to Switzerland.
Swarovski has been in the negative headlines for months because of massive job cuts. In July, the crystal group announced that it would cut another 1,000 of the 4,600 jobs it currently has in Wattens in autumn. In the medium term, around 3,000 people would be employed at the headquarters. Because by 2022, the number of employees is expected to decrease by another 600.
