Danone veteran Yves Lagros has been appointed as the new general director of Unimilk, the French company’s venture partner in Russia.

The appointment, announced by Unimilk yesterday (22 March), sees Lagros succeed Andrey Beskhmelnitskiy as the head of the company. 

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Beskhmelnitskiy has been chairman of the board of directors of Unimilk-Danone since December when the venture was approved by the Russian authorities.

“The strategic position at the board of directors does not fit well with the operational position as general manager of Unimilk. Unimilk formally still is an independent company as the merger is not completed yet,” a Unimilk spokesman told just-food.

Last June, Danone announced that it would merge its Russian fresh dairy business with Unimilk. Danone will hold 57.5% of the venture, with Unimilk having 47.5%.

Lagros started working for Danone in 1986. For the last four years, he was general manager of Danone’s unit in Japan.

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