The board of Irish-Swiss food group Aryzta has nominated Andreas G Schmid for election as its new non-executive chairman at its upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting on September 16.
Mr Schmid will succeed Gary McGann who has agreed to step down from the chairman's position.
Aryzta said that Mr Schmid has "an impressive track record" of delivering against turnaround situations, proven public company and chairmanship experience.
"Current circumstances necessitate a proven business leader with extensive expertise of board leadership, within complex, multi-national, publicly-listed companies of scale. The board believes Andreas G Schmid's highly effective board leadership is in the best interests of Aryzta and all its stakeholders," the company added.
But the Aryzta board also said that it rejected the proposal to remove chief executive Kevin Toland as a member of the board.
"Any diminution of his leadership, role or authority, increases business risk, and is not considered to be in the best interests of Aryzta. His leadership is integral to the business as it continues to manage through the Covid-19 crisis and provides effective executive representation at board level," the company said.
It also said it had rejected the proposal to remove Annette Flynn as a member of the Aryzta board.
But the board has proposed the election of Jim Leighton, Tim Lodge and Andreas G Schmid as members of its Remuneration Committee after the resignations of Gary McGann, Dan Flinter and Rolf Watter from the board of directors and the Remuneration Committee.
Aryzta had delayed its proposed extraordinary shareholders meeting in August after receiving unsolicited takeover approaches by investors.
The group, which is being targeted by activist investors Veraison and Cobas Asset Management, pushed back its EGM to September 16 which had originally been planned for mid-August.
The maker of McDonald's burger buns and Cuisine de France bread has been struggling with debts after a failed acquisition spree.
