Franck Riboud gives operational management of Danone
Franck Riboud, Danone's boss, became chairman of the leader for dairy products. Emmanuel Faber became CEO.
Change in governance at Danone. Franck Riboud, fifty-eight, disengages from the operational management of the group to take over the presidency and thus be able to concentrate entirely on strategic thinking about the future of the company in the long term. The creation of a strategic committee, which he will chair, has also been approved by the board of directors of French food group. Major decisions should be done in the coming months, as the sale of the division of medical supply business and new acquisitions in the areas of child nutrition or water bottle.
Emmanuel Faber, fifty years, until COO, became CEO and be responsible for the operational management as of October 1. Bernard Hours, fifty-eight, also previously Chief Operating Officer, will leave the group. However, it should keep "links with Danone," said Laurent Sacchi, Managing Director at the Presidency.
Good governance
Arrived in 1997 in the group, Emmanuel Faber there was successively in charge of development and particularly in mergers and acquisitions and finance before becoming the head of Asia at a time that was particularly difficult to manage: Chinese partner, Mr Zhong, who the French group had formed a joint venture under the name of Wahaha, did not respect the agreements between the two companies. Danone could not enforce its rights against the Chinese court, although Mr. Zhong has marketed its own account of manufactured products for the joint venture with Danone. After this painful and costly for the group episode, Emmanuel Faber returned to France, where he was appointed Chief Operating Officer.
The reorganization of the group is "in no case" to any challenge to the management of Franck Riboud, says Laurent Sacchi: "On the contrary, the board confirmed in his position as Chairman and entrusted the strategic thinking on the future of Danone. "Nothing in the statutes of the group does not provide a date when Franck Riboud leave. Its mandate is voted in general meeting every three years.
Separate the roles of chairman and CEO is, for many, a sign of good governance. In France, the CAC 40, such a structure is however an exception. Until the announcement Tuesday by Danone, 35 groups with a board of directors, 27 leaders combined the two roles of chairman and CEO. Only eight had dissociated functions (this is the case at Airbus Group, AlcatelLucent, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole SA, Gemalto, Pernod Ricard, Sanofi and Solvay). Danone joins that small group. On financial markets , investors may fear that the former CEO did not change his leadership, unless they prefer to focus on the personality of Emmanuel Faber.