Shares in L’Oréal, the cosmetics group, rose yesterday after the death of Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of its founder, spurred speculation about the intentions of Nestlé, its minority shareholder. The possibility of a big change of ownership in the company set shares up by nearly 4 per cent before they fell back to close 2.5 per cent higher. After the death of the 94-year-old billionaire, listed by Forbes as the world’s richest woman, her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers renewed the family’s “entire commitment and loyalty to L’Oréal” and affirmed their confidence in Jean-Paul Agon, its chairman. But analysts believe Nestlé, which owns 23 per cent of L’Oréal under an alliance dating from the 1970s, could use the occasion to buy the whole group, or sell…

Source: The Times September 22, 2017 23:03 UTC