PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–Orpea announced Sunday evening that it has separated from its general manager, Yves Le Masne, while the operator of retirement homes finds itself in turmoil after the accusations of the investigative book “Les Gravediggers” which calls into question the practices of the company.
“The board of directors of the company has decided to terminate the functions of general manager of Mr. Yves Le Masne”, indicated the company in a press release, without detailing the reasons for the dismissal of the manager.
The group has decided to appoint Philippe Charrier as CEO of the company with immediate effect. Former CEO of Procter & Gamble France and Managing Director of Laboratoires Mayoly Spindler since 2019, Philippe Charrier had been non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Orpea since March 2017.
Philippe Charrier will have the particular mission “to shed all the light on the allegations made, based in particular on the evaluation missions entrusted by the board of directors to two independent firms in the process of being appointed”, underlined the company. .
The retirement home operator has also decided to wait for the results of this assessment mission before making a decision on Yves Le Masne’s severance pay.
Orpea has been facing accusations from the investigative book “Les Fossoyeurs” since last week, which have plunged its stock market price by around 50%. The operator of retirement homes has denied the accusations contained in this book, considering them to be “false, outrageous and prejudicial”.
On Wednesday, the group decided to appoint two “recognized” firms to entrust them with an independent assessment mission on all the allegations reported in the book-investigation.
The director general of Orpea France, Jean-Christophe Romersi, is for his part summoned on Tuesday February 1 by the Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon.
This interview will be “an opportunity to hear the explanations of the Orpea group on several points which will be the subject of in-depth investigations by the State services”, indicated the minister in a letter published Thursday.
The government has also indicated that it is considering launching an investigation by the General Inspectorate of Sanitary Affairs into all or part of the group’s establishments.
-Julien Marion, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 94; [email protected] ed: VLV
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January 31, 2022 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)