The board of directors of Grupo DIA has agreed to appoint Benjamin J. Babcock as co-option director, with the category of proprietary director to fill the vacancy existing after the resignation of Basola Valley Cerezuela. As the company explains in a statement, the incorporation of Babcock “occurs after examining the needs of the experience and skills required by the management of the company in the last period of the turnaround process and determining that his career provides valuable knowledge in corporate finance.”
Babcock is the Managing Director of Corporate Finance at LetterOne, DIA’s principal partner. With a degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Toronto (Canada), a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and a Chartered Accountant, before joining LetterOne, he worked for a decade at Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director in London; previously for Merrill Lynch and Lazard in London and Canada.
During his career, the new director led companies and investors in a series of recapitalization, refining and M&A transactions in the energy, transport, telecommunications, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors in Europe and the Middle East.
On the other hand, Grupo Dia has announced that it will hold an ordinary general meeting of its shareholders on June 28, at 1:00 am, at its headquarters in Las Rozas (Madrid). In the call, which will be broadcast to the public through its website diacorporatum.com, and will be chaired by Stephan DuCharme, Chairman of the Board of Directors, accompanied by Martino Tolcachir, Global CEO of the group, the company will be subject to approval. It reports its shareholders’ annual accounts and management for the year 2012.
