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Zurich, Switzerland--Richemont chairman Johann Rupert doesn't want Bluebell co-founder Francesco Trapani on the company's board.

[Image via Richemont]

According to a news report, Rupert asked shareholders to reject Trapani's appointment at the shareholder's meeting on September 7, a move expressing intentions to call for an end of Bluebell's bid for a position on the board of the luxury holding company, whose brands include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc. 

Rupert cited Trapani's link to rival LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton. Trapani was proposed to represent "A" shareholders by Bluebell Capital partners.

"LVMH is one of our company's key competitors," Rupert wrote in a letter to shareholders, per the report. "The board may not responsibly recommend to shareholders to let a person who has a long history of association with that group – as well as a personal relationship with that group's main shareholder – become a director of our company and intervene in our company's decision-making process."

Bluebell had said last month it had been involved in Richemont for 1-1/2 years and had a $111 million stake in the company. However, its plans for a board seat have been met coldly by the South African billionaire, who said he wouldn't be "blackmailed" into making changes.

Read more in the report.