Diana Holding is accelerating its transformation. The Moroccan group headed since 2014 by Rita Maria Zniber is making numerous changes to the composition of its board of directors, the magazine reveals. Young Africa. «A way to consolidate the confidence of shareholders and potential investors in view of the project of opening up the capital of the Moroccan wine empire”lit-on.
It is in this context that the applications of Yasmina Triki, Deputy Managing Director of BMCE Capital Investments and former Vice President of OCP, and Kawtar Joharti, former Managing Director of Saham Asset Management, were accepted in June.
«To recruit these new independent directors, Rita Maria Zniber called on the Club des femmes administrateurs (CFA) in October 2023, a Moroccan association whose main missions are to promote diversity and parity within boards of directors.“, the magazine says.
These two arrivals are accompanied by that of Latifa Bahae Zniber who, as administrator, represents part of the Zniber siblings and their descendants, i.e. six members who hold 13.42% of the capital of Diana Holding.
During the first half of this year, several directors left the agri-food giant, which represented some 4 billion dirhams in turnover. This is the case of Khalid Hatimy, who became a member of parliament under the colors of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, Otman Rouchdi, former general manager of Domaines Zniber, Anouar Tahiri, general manager of the subsidiary Société nouvelle de volailles, and Réda Iskander Zniber.
“This recruitment process was initiated in December after the holding company entrusted the IFC, a subsidiary of the World Bank, with a diagnostic mission for the establishment of a new governance. According to our information, one of the prerequisites retained for this mission consists of reviewing the composition of the board of directors, the objective being to allow a balanced representation of the Zniber family.”écrit Young Africa.
Added to this is the desire to choose directors in line with the group’s new direction, which provides for sufficient representation of independent and external directors. “in the sense of companies listed on the stock exchange”and gender balance, under a new law that came into force in January.
Before the mission entrusted to the IFC, the group had already initiated this vision within some of its subsidiaries, such as Roslane wine & spirits (formerly called Celliers de Meknès), which had co-opted, in March 2023, a new independent director in the person of Abdessamad Mahfoud Filali, former deputy general manager of the Société des boissons du Maroc.The others are still looking for independent directors who meet the criteria set for their recruitment.“, underlines the pan-African magazine.
Par Lamia Elouali
04/09/2024 at 8:26 p.m.
