French caterer Elior's shareholders back Derichebourg deal

(Reuters) - Elior shareholders on Tuesday approved the French catering group's acquisition of Derichebourg's DMS arm, in a deal to create a bigger outsourcing company.

The two groups announced a memorandum of understanding in December under which Europe's third largest catering company will acquire Derichebourg Multiservices (DMS) in exchange for new Elior shares at 5.65 euros each.

Under the deal to merge the services businesses of both groups, Derichebourg will double its Elior stake to 48.4%.

The shareholder meeting approved the contribution by Derichebourg of 30 million DMS holding shares to the group and the election of Daniel Derichebourg as director, paving the way for his appointment as chairperson and CEO of Elior.

Derichebourg will replace chairman and CEO Bernard Gault, who has held the position for 15 months.

"The Board of Directors will now meet to formally record the final completion of the transaction and to appoint Daniel Derichebourg as CEO in my place", Gault said in a statement.

(Reporting by Diana Mandia; Editing by Alexander Smith)