Fight behind the scenes over Yoox Net-a-Porter

New York

FOR many in the fashion industry, it appeared to be a smooth and logical merger.

The two biggest names in the business of selling luxury fashion online, Yoox and Net-a-Porter, announced plans this spring to combine in a £936 million (S$2 billion) deal, creating an e-commerce powerhouse in an industry that has been slow to embrace the Internet.

"I don't think any merger in history has been so perfect on paper," Federico Marchetti, the chief executive of Yoox, told The Financial Times in May.

Behind the scenes, however, simmered a corporate battle between the majority owner of Net-a-Porter and one of its original backers.

The management of Net-a-Porter and some of its minority shareholders fought against the deal, arguing that the company's majority owner, the Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont, was selling out at far too l…