Evolution in Degroof Petercam Governance

  • Ludwig Criel to replace Baron Philippson as chairman of the board of directors
  • François Wohrer: new member of the executive committee

Ludwig Criel, one of Degroof Petercam’s current independent directors, will succeed Alain Philippson as chairman as of 1 January 2018. Alain Philippson remains member of the board of directors.

Two changes will take place in 2018 at the executive committee to reflect the transversal and international character of the activities of the group.

In order to maximally leverage the group’s commercial multi-business and multi-country model, Gautier Bataille (member of the executive committee) will be appointed Group Head of Business Development. In this role, he will deploy his expertise and network in order to reinforce the synergies between the group’s businesses and international entities.

François Wohrer, currently Head of Degroof Petercam in France, joins the executive committee as Group Head of Investment Banking. He will be in charge of integrating all investment banking components and resources (Corporate Finance and Financial Markets) in order to unlock their full potential at an international level.

Philippe Masset, CEO of Degroof Petercam: “On behalf of the board, our management and staff, I thank Alain for his visionary insights and entrepreneurship. They contributed to the sustainable growth of our group in the last 45 years. He can be sure that we will give shape to his inheritance. The appointments of Gautier Bataille and François Wohrer are inspired by our ambition to strengthen the potential of our business model, the synergies of our métiers and our international activities at management level.”

Philippe Masset is at your disposal should you have any questions. Please contact Bob De Leersnyder (+32 472 50 76 37 ).

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Attached:

  • Slideshow

- Composition Board of Directors

- Composition Executive Committee

  • CVs (below)

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Ludwig Criel (1951) obtained a master in applied economics at the University of Ghent and a master in management at the Vlerick School of Management. He started his career at Boelwerk in 1976, became manager at the Almabo/Exmar group, before becoming CFO of the CMB group. He executed several functions in branches of the CMB Group, where he has been director since 1991. He is director at Exmar and chairman of De Persgroep and of the Royal Belgian Ship Owners’ Association.

In 2011, he joined the board of directors of Petercam as independent director and he became the chairman of the board of directors a few months later. As such, he brought the merger to a good end in cooperation with Alain Philippson. He is currently independent director, chairman of the Remuneration Committee and member of the Risk Committee and Nomination Committee.

Gautier Bataille (1962), civil engineer in applied mathematics (UCL), followed a General Management Program at the INSEAD. He entered Bank Degroof in 1986 as analyst and portfolio manager in the asset management department. In 1991, he joined the trading floor in order to develop advisory services and sales for institutional clients. He became responsible for Financial Markets and Institutional Sales in 1998, joined the executive committee in 2002 and took over the IT and organizational management in 2003. For more than 15 years, he has been managing director representing Financial Markets and, since the merger of Bank Degroof and Petercam, he was also in charge of Credits and Private Equity.

François Wohrer (1965) has been CEO of Degroof Petercam France since 2015. Between 2011 and 2015, François was CEO of BBVA-France, the French subsidiary of the second largest bank in Spain. Previously, he worked as a mergers & acquisitions partner at DC Advisory (formerly Close Brothers). Between 1997 and 2009, he was managing director in investment banking at UBS in London and Paris. François began his career in 1991 in Washington DC in the group Banque Mondiale. He is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and holds a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

About Degroof Petercam

Founded in 1871, Degroof Petercam is a Belgian-rooted reference investment house built on more than 150 years of integrated financial knowledge. We create responsible prosperity for all by opening doors to opportunities and accompanying our private, corporate and institutional clients with expertise.

Clients in over 20 countries trust us for our convictions and for our distinctive combination of services in private banking, asset management, investment banking (corporate finance and global markets) and asset services. Total client assets (under management, under administration and in custody) amount to 71.1 billion euros (on 31.12.2022).

More than 1,500 experts are committed to our clients through offices in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong.

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