The continuation of the group’s “deleveraging” is the main priority of its new director.
The cooperative group Tereos (Béghin Say), the world’s second sugar producer, announced on Tuesday the appointment of the industrialist Ludwig de Mot as head of its management board, “with debt reduction as the main objective“, said a spokeswoman to AFP.
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Financial Director Gwenaël Eliès, who has acted in the interim, will now be in charge of “finance, information systems, legal, tax and human resources“As a member of the executive board, specifies the group in a press release. “The arrival of Ludwig de Mot will make it possible to accelerate the transformation of the cooperative group and to continue improving its financial results, while deploying its energy transition strategy.“, he details. Civil engineer and graduate in management, Ludwig de Mot, 58, has been a member and chairman of the executive committees of several groups, including the British manufacturer of cleaning products McBride (2019-2020) and the Belgian leader in lime production Lhoist between 2006 and 2018.
Successive management changes since 2020
His predecessor Philippe de Raynal, who arrived in December 2020, had been entrusted with the mission of hiring a group in debt of 2.37 billion euros – more than half of its turnover – “on the road to financial recovery“.
Almost a year later, in February 2022, the group had justified its departure by “a change of management to accelerate the transformationof the group and announced in the process that its debt remained stable at 2.524 billion euros as of December 31, 2021.Much remains to be done to restore Tereos to its rightful place, and the next Chairman of the Management Board will have the task of deepening this dynamic.“, had commented the chairman of its supervisory board Gérard Clay.
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Tereos, which is one of the major groups in the sugar, alcohol and starch markets, has undergone successive management changes since 2020, following the reversal of its historic management following a governance conflict with the partners. cooperators, numbering 12,000. Established in 13 countries, Tereos processes beets, sugar cane, alfalfa, cereals and potatoes at 44 industrial sites. In 2020-2021, the group achieved a turnover of 4.3 billion euros.