Mats Jansson, the president of the Delhaize administration council, is also a consultant for the American business bank JP Morgan. JP Morgan has been advising bank to the Dutch distributor Ahold for years. JP Morgan is also advising the Dutch group in the take-over discussions with Delhaize, the Mediahuis papers reported on Monday. The Delhaize group announced they “had entered into preliminary discussions with Royal Ahold N.V. regarding the possibility of a structural merger between the two companies” last week.
Swedish Mats Jansson is a “senior consultant” with JP Morgan. As he is supposed to defend the interests of Delhaize shareholders, the Delhaize president finds himself in an uncomfortable position as he has connections to each camp. They might have opposing interests, the papers pointed out. “Everything depends on Mats Jansson’s personal morals. If he has strong morals, he could tell JP Morgan that he refuses to talk to them about Delhaize as he doesn’t want to”, said a London business banker.
Delhaize said that when Mats Jansson became president of the administration council in 2012, he told them about his consulting job. He told them “it would only concern the Scandinavian region, and would be independent of detailed trade business”.
(Source: Belga)
