Belgian fresh, prepared and frozen produce supplier Greenyard Foods has suggested that a recent reorganisation of its share structure will improve decision-making at the company in future.
Speaking to Fruchthandel Magazine, Greenyard’s investor relations manager Kris Kippers said that the sale of a minority stake owned by holding company 2D – managed jointly by the Deprez and Desimpel families – had rendered the group’s shareholder structure much slimmer, something which would simplify the way in which corporate decisions are made.
The sale saw 2D’s stake shared between two other Deprez family holding companies with existing shareholdings, with 2.75m shares (6.2 per cent of the group’s outstanding shares) sold to Food Invest International (FII) and a further 493,950 shares (1.1 per cent) sold to Tosalu.
As a result, FII now owns 14.73 per cent of Greenyard, taking it over the 10 per cent threshold for the first time.
It has also emerged that, following the transaction, Greenyard director Peter Gain resigned, which means he is no longer a member of the group’s board of directors and strategic committee as of 27 September.
“We wish to thank him for his contribution to the company in the execution of his mandate as director,” the group said in a statement.
The other major consequence of the deal is that the Deprez family now owns a combined 43.8 per cent share in Greenyard through two holding companies instead of three.
With around 30 per cent of the group’s shares in the hands of private investors, the rest of the group is owned by Luxembourg-based Sujajo Investments (8.9 per cent), Belgian entity Green Valley (7.1 per cent), Flemish investment vehicle Gimv-XL (4.9 per cent), Belgium-based Agri Investment Fund (4.0 per cent) and French cooperative agri-food organisation Groupe D’Aucy (1.4 per cent).
