NEW YORK, United States — Coty Inc is set to announce that Peter Harf, its current chairman, will become the cosmetics company's new chief executive officer, replacing Pierre Laubies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Harf will assume the CEO role as soon as Monday, the Journal reported, making him Coty's fourth chief executive in less than four years.

Coty declined to comment on the report.

Harf's appointment would come as a surprise as the company had said in February that Jimmy Choo boss Pierre Denis would replace Laubies this summer, after the conclusion of the company's strategic review of its professional beauty unit that houses brands such as Wella and OPI.

Harf, one of two managing partners of Coty's largest shareholder, JAB Holding Co, will jointly oversee a newly-created executive committee alongside Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Andre Terisse and Gordon von Bretten, the company's chief transformation officer, the report added.

By: Anurag Maan in Bengaluru; Editor: Peter Cooney