Three ex-directors of Aryzta, including its former European CEO, Gregory Sklikas, chief people officer Tony Murphy, and former chief commercial officer of Aryzta North America, John Heffernan, have teamed up with their erstwhile CEO, Kevin Toland, to initiate legal proceedings against the Swiss-Irish bakery conglomerate, stemming from their departures in late 2020.
According to documents submitted in court this week, all four are litigating for “specific performance”, which suggests they are demanding pay they believe they were contractually owed.
In a surprising turn of events, all four individuals left Aryzta in the latter part of 2020 in the wake of a boardroom upheaval. This event led to Urs Jordi, a veteran of the Swiss food industry, assuming the role of chairman in September, before stepping in as interim CEO two months later following the departure of Mr Toland.
Aryzta, recognised in Ireland as the proprietor of the Cuisine de France brand, provides partially baked goods to a broad customer base that includes industry giants such as McDonald’s and Subway, as well as Lidl, Aldi, and Dunnes Stores.
A spokesman for Aryzta declined to issue a statement regarding the charges, which are at an early stage. Meanwhile, Donal Spring from Daniel Spring & Co Solicitors, who is the legal representative for all four men, was unavailable for comments on Wednesday morning.
Mr Toland departed the firm instantaneously on November 19th, 2020, less than a month after a prospective buyer for the group, hedge fund Elliott Management, withdrew. Mr Jordi indicated from the beginning of his tenure that a sale was not on the cards, opting instead for a restructuring strategy.
Elliott had proposed a rate of 0.8 Swiss francs (equivalent to 82 euro cents) for each share. The share price has since bounced back to 1.64 francs, aided by sales of non-core assets, earnings recovery, and a decrease in debt burden, rendering a market value of 1.62 billion francs (totalling €1.67 billion).
Mr Sklikas currently holds the position of CEO at ELTA Hellenic Post, the postal service of Greece. Mr Murphy, meanwhile, serves as an interim chief people officer at Deliveroo, an online food delivery service based in the UK. The Irish division of Valeo Foods, known for owning brands like Jacob’s biscuits and the Italian cakes company Balconi, is under the leadership of Mr Heffernan as a managing director.
Gas Networks Ireland named Mr Toland as their chairman in the latter part of 2022. Besides this, he also holds non-executive directorships at various other corporations. These include Dole plc, which is listed in New York, Bewley’s Limited, and also Invert Robotics. The last company specialises in the creation of climbing robots, which are frequently utilised in environments that are hazardous or difficult to access.