Bertolli olive oil maker Grupo SOS has named a new chairman and created two new executive positions in its latest move to revamp the business.
SOS, which last week appointed a new CEO, said yesterday (25 May) that Mariano Pérez Claver would become chairman.
Claver, an executive from savings bank Caja Madrid, which owns a 10.5% stake in SOS, replaces Vicente Sos.
Sos became interim chairman in the wake of a share scandal that saw the departure of the company’s former chairman and CEO.
SOS has taken legal action against ex-chairman Jesús Salazar and former CEO Jaime Salazar over a scandal that saw both executives dismissed from the business.
The Salazars, who remain major shareholders in SOS, used a loan from the business to buy company shares. They then planned to sell the stock to an Arab sovereign wealth fund through a holding company called Condor Plus, a move that did not materialise and had not been approved by the SOS board.
The affair caused SOS to restate its 2008 results and report a net loss of EUR190m.
SOS, which also makes Carbonell olive oil, said it would also create two vice-president roles, which will be filled by two representatives from Andalucian bank shareholders.
The group also made changes to its audit and remuneration committees.
Last week, former Santana Motor executive Jose Manuel Muriel was names as SOS’s chief executive.
Muriel, a former Leche Pascual executive, will lead SOS as it looks to launch a EUR200m rights issue to shore up its balance sheet in the wake of the share affair.
