Carrefour Turkey to choose new directors

PARIS - Reuters

Carrefour’s local partner Sabancı Holding is to appoint new directors on July 27. Hürriyet photo

Carrefour’s Turkish partner Sabancı Holding, will name four new directors to their CarrefourSA joint venture following the resignation of its current board representatives, the French retailer said yesterday.

Haluk Dinçer, head of Sabancı’s retail and insurance group, stepped down from the CarrefourSa board along with three other directors a day earlier, which some analysts interpreted as sign that the Turkish partner might withdraw from the CarrefourSA venture.

“Carrefour acknowledges the resignations of the four administrators,” the Paris-based company said in a statement.

Sabancı Holding informed Carrefour that it would propose the new appointments on July 27.

Sabancı, a major Turkish conglomerate with interests in banking and energy, said in February it was not happy with CarrefourSA’s performance and that it had mandated a bank to review strategic options regarding its stake.

Sabanci owns 38.8 percent of the chain, and Carrefour owns 58 percent. Just 2.2 percent of
the venture is publicly traded on the Istanbul bourse. Carrefour board member Thomas Huebner was quoted by a newspaper last month as saying that the company plans to stay in Turkey but may change its partner.