Dutch brewing giant Heineken appointed insider Jean-Francois van Boxmeer as its new chief executive to replace Anthony Ruys in October in a management shake-up to help revive its sluggish share price.
The world's fourth-biggest brewer said Mr Ruys will step down on October 1st and be succeeded by Mr Van Boxmeer, a Belgian who is executive board member responsible for production in most of Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Heineken's five-member executive board will be slimmed down to three with Mr Van Boxmeer as chairman and chief executive, Marc Bolland as chief operating officer and Rene Hooft Graafland as chief financial officer.
Besides Mr Ruys, who has been a board member since 1993 and chief executive since 2002, executive board member Karl Bueche will also step down in October. He is responsible for Brau Union, Heineken's Austrian unit.
Analysts saw the changes as evolutionary rather than revolutionary as it was prompted by the controlling Heineken family, but change was needed to revitalise the Dutch brewer faced by sluggish beer markets and poorly performing shares.
Under Mr Ruys, Heineken's shares have declined 33 per cent to €26.5 from €39.6, underperforming its three larger competitors: InBev by 14 per cent, Anheuser-Busch by 21 per cent, and SABMiller by 85 per cent, according to Rabo Securities.
It added that Heineken was overly dependent on the US market and the dollar and was falling behind competition in China, Russia and South America.