Aryzta activists ‘concerned over proposed chairman’s commitments’
THE activist shareholder group engaged in a proxy battle over Swiss-Irish bakery group Aryzta is concerned about the number of additional board commitments of proposed new chairman Andreas Schmid.
Aryzta nominated Schmid to succeed Gary McGann as chairman of the company at its extraordinary general meeting to be held next month.
McGann said previously that he would step down if a deal to sell the company has not been lined up before the meeting.
The shareholder group, comprising of Veraison and Spanish activist Cobas, is concerned that Schmid has too many existing board commitments to focus sufficiently on Aryzta, and that they are concerned that there is no specific timeline for his commitment to reduce the number of mandates he has.
On Friday, Veraison updated its PowerPoint presentation on the company to highlight Schmid’s existing board commitments, claiming many already had time-consuming challenges.
Swiss newspaper ‘Handelszeitung’ reported that Aryzta would become Schmid’s 11th mandate.
Schmid has previously held a number of senior positions at Barry Callebaut, a leading manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products.
He has also served as chairman of the listed
Airport Zürich since 2000.
German broker Baader said that it wished that Aryzta “would have proposed a leader with more familiarity with the frozen bakery segment”.
Announcing the nomination, McGann said: “Andreas is uniquely positioned to work with the Board, Kevin [Toland, group CEO] and the broader management team. His acceptance of the nomination as Chair reflects the inherent potential within the Aryzta business.”