Former McDonald’s executive beefs up Aryzta’s boardroom
EMBATTLED Swiss-Irish baked goods firm Aryzta has tapped former top executives from McDonald’s and Tate & Lyle to join its board as it pushes ahead with plans to raise €800m.
Aryzta also said that it has received consents from a majority of lenders to amend its existing facilities agreement to “provide additional flexibility to pursue its new business strategy and implement a share capital increase”.
The company, headed by CEO Kevin Toland, told shareholders last month that it planned to hit them for €800m in equity as it struggles to emerge from a long and difficult period that has seen its business come under increasing pressure.
Aryzta said that it has secured an underwriting agreement in relation to the €800m equity raise with BofA Merrill Lynch and UBS as process banks, and Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and HSBC as joint global coordinators.
Aryzta is taking on three new independent, non-executive directors at its AGM in Switzerland on November 1. They are Michael Andres, Gregory Flack and Tim Lodge.
Mr Andres was most recently the president of McDonald’s USA. He stepped down from that role last year.
Mr Flack is executive chairman of US frozen consumer foods group Green Chile Foods Company. He was CEO of the Schwan frozen food group from 2008 to 2013. Mr Lodge recently retired as CFO of COFCO International, a major agricultural supply chain group. He spent most of his career at Tate & Lyle.