bioMerieux succession crisis, with death of Christophe Merieux

French in vitro diagnostics company bioMerieux has been thrown into a succession crisis following the sudden death of Christophe Merieux, aged 39, only a matter of days after his father, group president Alain Merieux, had announced a series of top-level changes leading to his son's control of the company.

The son's death resulted from a fatal heart attack during a swimming session. Christophe Merieux trained as a doctor but gave up his plan to go into hospital medicine after the death in 1996, in an air accident, of his brother Rodolphe. From 1998, he was vice-president of bioMerieux responsible for R&D and industrial affairs and was president of the group's biotechnology company, Transgene.

His death has led a number of commentators to ask whether his father will continue to manage the group, which he has said should remain under family control. bioMerieux' sales reached 994.0 million euros ($1.27 billion) last year, with exports accounting for 82%. The market valuation of the company is currently about 1.8 billion euros. The family holds 58.9% of the capital through the so-called Merieux Alliance.