One of Carrefour's biggest shareholders, Paul-Louis Halley, has died after the plane carrying his wife and pilot flipped over and crashed near Oxford at the weekend.
The accident occurred as the plane was attempting to land at Kidlington airport on Saturday.
Halley turned his father's grocery business into European retail giant Carrefour. French Prime Minister Pierre Raffarin described Halley, “as a brilliant figure in the world of French business”.
Halley co-founded the Promodes retail group in 1961 and opened his first supermarket the following year. He was named president of the board of Promodes in 1972 and was instrumental in the merger of Carrefour and Promodes, with Daniel Bernard chairman of Carrefour.
Halley owned 11 per cent of shares in the company, which is now the world's second largest supermarket group with outlets across the world.
Following the news Carrefour shares fell 1.17 per cent to 43euros, but analysts expected little impact on the company in the short term.
