Avon has narrowly avoided a proxy battle with activist investor Barington Capital Group, according to a report published by Reuters.

Barington’s CEO James Mitarotonda is to be nominated to the direct sales giant’s board, according to a filing on Monday last week, per Reuters.

In exchange for this representation, a trio of shareholders, which includes Shah Capital, Barington and NuOrion Partners, will agree not to run a proxy contest and offer their support to the company’s management.

While the trio, who had been pushing Avon to sell up and bemoaning the delay in appointing a new CEO, had been somewhat mollified by the appointment of Jan Zijderveld as CEO in February and the subsequent departure of Sheri McCoy, they had continued to lobby for operational and board changes, culminating in Barington notifying the company that it planned to nominate its own directors to the board in mid-March.

Will the latest accord and new leadership herald a new era for the beleaguered direct sales firm?