By ANGELA CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer
PARIS – An ugly battle at beauty icon L’Oreal between Europe’s richest woman and her daughter could end up shaping the future of the world’s No. 1 cosmetics maker.
As France stands transfixed by lurid claims of dirty campaign cash and tax dodging that have ensnared President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, the 87-year-old heiress to the L’Oreal fortune fears her daughter could let the family-owned business fall into foreign corporate hands.
Losing L’Oreal – whose Maybelline mascaras, Lancome face creams and Armani perfumes are used by women around the globe – would be a blow to France, a nation as renowned for its beauty secrets as it is determined to remain a global economic player.