Europe’s largest retailer, Carrefour, has announced this week the replacement of chief executive José Luis Duran with Nestlé executive Lars Olofsson.

The leadership change for the French group follows months of tension on the outgoing head from key shareholders unhappy with the company’s lower than average performance this year.

Luxury goods company LVMH and US private equity firm Colony Capital, who control a 14 per cent share of Carrefour via their joint venture Blue Capital, have been named the chief backers behind the replacement of Mr Duran by the Financial Times.

The two groups reportedly believe he did not respond strongly enough to fix the company’s problems, and are unhappy with the pace of foreign expansion.

Carrefour confirmed the move on Tuesday (18 November), with board chairman Amaury de Séze saying: 'Lars Olofsson has exceptional experience in consumer markets, built up over more than 30 years both in France and Internationally, within the number one global food industry group. His strong leadership and sales and marketing expertise make him the ideal leader for Carrefour to carry out the next stage of the group's development.'

Mr Duran will likely remain in the chief executive position until the end of the year, after which Mr Olofsson will take over.

Topics