The house owners of Britain’s fourth-biggest grocery store chain are drawing up plans to determine a brand new chief govt a yr after buying it in a £7bn deal.
Sky News has learnt that Morrisons‘ controlling shareholder, the US-based personal fairness agency Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), has retained Egon Zehnder International to strengthen the grocery store’s govt ranks.
Retail trade sources stated this weekend that Egon Zehnder had been approaching potential recruits “with one eye” on discovering a successor to David Potts, who has run Morrisons since 2015.
Mr Potts will not be anticipated to depart till at the least 2024, and is targeted on bettering the Bradford-based firm’s efficiency after it was just lately displaced as Britain’s third-biggest grocery store chain by the German discounter Aldi.
Quite a few inside candidates are anticipated to vie for the chance of changing Mr Potts, in accordance with insiders.
One stated that CD&R was “continuously” engaged on succession planning at Morrisons and its different portfolio corporations.
Sir Terry Leahy, the previous Tesco chief govt who has a long-standing relationship with CD&R, will play a key function within the succession planning course of as Morrisons’ chairman.
Earlier this yr, Trevor Strain, Morrisons’ chief working officer and beforehand its finance chief, left the corporate, having lengthy been thought to be Mr Potts’ inevitable successor.
Morrisons delisted from the London Stock Exchange final yr, ending a 54-year run as a publicly traded firm.
Recent trade knowledge confirmed that Morrisons had been usurped by Aldi in market share phrases – a milestone in a sector which not often demonstrates change within the membership of its prime ranks.
Morrisons struck a deal earlier this yr to rescue the comfort chain McColl’s, the market share of which was not included in that knowledge.
CD&R and Morrisons declined to remark.
Source: information.sky.com”