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Danone needs new independent chairman instead of Faber, says investor Artisan

March 03, 2021 at 04:55 am EST

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S investment company Artisan Partners on Wednesday said that Danone needed to appoint a new, independent chairman, adding more pressure on Emmanuel Faber who holds that position at the French food company.

This week, Danone said Faber - who until now has combined the CEO and chairman roles - would stay on as chairman and oversee the search for a new chief executive.

"With Mr. Faber as chairman, the incoming CEO will not have the appropriate latitude to set a new direction," wrote Artisan, which has a stake of around 3% in Danone.

Artisan Partners' letter to Danone's board of management echoed a similar position from investment company Bluebell, which also said Danone should appoint another independent chairman instead of Faber.

Activist investors say Danone - whose brands include Evian and Actimel - needs a management revamp as they believe that under Faber's tenure, Danone's sales growth, margins and share price have lagged rivals, including Perrier-owner Nestle and Unilever, the maker of Cornetto ice cream and Lipton tea.

(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)

Stocks mentioned in the article

	Add to a list Add to a list 0 selected To use this feature you must be a member Log in Sign up	Price	Change	5d. change	Capi.
	NESTLÉ S.A.	91.92 CHF	-0.63%	-1.69%	265B
	UNILEVER PLC	3,744 GBX	-0.69%	-2.02%	118B

Emmanuel Faber

Emmanuel Faber is the founder of Action Tank Business & Poverty.
He currently holds multiple positions, including Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Danone Ltda.
since 2017, Vice Chairman at Naandi Community Water Services Pvt Ltd.
since 2010, Co-Chairman at L’Action Tank Entreprise Et Pauvreté, Chairman at Livelihoods Fund For Familiy Farming SAS, Director at Danone Communities SICAV since 2008, Director at COFCO Dairy Investments Ltd., Director at Prominent Achiever Ltd., Partner at Good Harvest Ventures Management Sarl since 2021, and Partner at Astanor Ventures (UK) since 2021.
Mr. Faber's former positions include Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Danone SA from 1997 to 2021, Co-Chairman at The Consumer Goods Forum from 2019 to 2021, Chairman at Danone North America Public Benefit Corp.
from 2015 to 2021, Independent Non-Executive Director at Ryanair Holdings Plc in 2010, Director at Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd., Director at Ryanair DAC, Director at Lodahlim BV, Director at Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., Member-Supervisory Board at Legris Industries SA in 2012, and Member-Supervisory Board at Danone Baby & Medical Nutrition BV.
Mr. Faber obtained his undergraduate degree from École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris.

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Linked companies
Danone Ltda. Danone Ltda. Food: Meat/Fish/DairyConsumer Non-Durables Danone Ltda. produces dairy products. Its products include yogurt, powder milk, water, mix fiber powder, protein supplements, and others. The company was founded on December 3, 1974 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.	Chief Executive Officer
L’Action Tank Entreprise Et Pauvreté	Chairman