Castel Family Fails in First Bid to Oust CEO as Power Struggle Intensifies

The leadership and succession battle at France’s Castel Group moved further into public view this week as family members failed in an initial attempt to unseat the company’s top executive.

At a meeting held Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Gregory Clerc retained his board seat at a key Singapore-based holding entity after heirs seeking his removal were unable to secure enough support for a vote, according to people familiar with the matter.

Romy Castel, daughter of 99-year-old founder Pierre Castel, and her nephew Alain Castel had previously told Bloomberg News that they were deeply dissatisfied with Clerc’s management of the group’s wine and beer businesses and with what they described as an excessive concentration of power in his hands.

“Clerc is attempting to take control of the company,” Romy Castel, 51, said in an interview, referring to the CEO’s recent move earlier this month to remove Alain Castel from the boards of two group companies.

In a separate statement, Alain Castel, 65, questioned Clerc’s strategic vision and his ability to effectively manage a group employing around 43,000 people.

“For me and my family, it has become vital that Mr. Clerc fully appreciate the situation and realize that his resignation is the best solution,” he said.

In a statement, family members said that “despite the fact that nearly 97% of shareholders expressed their intention to remove Mr. Gregory Clerc from his directorship, Pierre Baer, chairman of IBBM, employed various dilatory tactics to prevent shareholders from exercising their voting rights.”

The statement added that a new general meeting would be convened as soon as possible, with an agenda that would include the removal of both Pierre Baer and Gregory Clerc.

A Family Feud in the Open

Castel Group is a highly private, family-owned company founded by Pierre Castel. Clerc, the first external executive appointed to run the sprawling and traditionally opaque business empire, has taken a series of steps since assuming the role that have reduced the influence of family members within the group.

According to French media reports, since Clerc became CEO in 2023, several long-serving executives have either left the group or been replaced, including relatives of the Castel family or directors closely linked to it. Clerc previously served as Pierre Castel’s long-time tax adviser and is deeply familiar with the group’s complex ownership structure and multinational architecture—an expertise widely seen as a key factor in his rapid consolidation of power.

Alain Castel, who had overseen the group’s wine business, has said he was removed from the board of Luxembourg-based holding company D.F. Holding, which consolidates Castel’s wine and beer operations. He also said he was removed from the board of Cassiopee Pte. Ltd., a higher-level holding entity registered in Singapore.

These developments have brought what many describe as a “palace drama” into full public view, with the two heirs openly calling for Clerc’s removal.

Cassiopee is ultimately controlled by Singapore-based Investment Beverage Business Fund. Romy Castel said she had convened an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of the fund’s management entity, Investment Beverage Business Management (IBBM), to seek Clerc’s removal from the board.

Alain Castel has described Romy Castel as the “controlling shareholder” of IBBM. Documents show she holds a 24% stake in the company. “With the two former executives as allies, I have the majority,” Romy Castel previously said in an interview. “I am very, very confident” about removing Clerc.

“Clerc took the place of my father, except that my father was defending his group,” Romy Castel said in a Dec. 22 interview. “We want to bring back some balance.”

In response, Clerc said in an internal letter sent to employees on Tuesday that IBBM was established by Pierre Castel in 1992 with the explicit purpose of separating ownership from day-to-day management—and that he was entrusted by the founder to ensure that principle was upheld.

“My mission is clear, unchanged and backed” by the board of D.F. Holding, the letter said. That mission includes improving performance, securing investment capacity, and raising governance and compliance standards. Clerc added that even if he were removed as a director of IBBM, it “wouldn’t have any other impact” on his other mandates or his role as CEO.

Another group company, Castel Afrique, said on its website that Castel Group’s board met in Luxembourg on Dec. 11 and expressed its support for Clerc.

IBBM also issued a statement saying that, in line with the founder’s long-standing wishes, ultimate control of Castel Group does not rest with IBBM or any individual, but with professional, independent trustees who act as guardians of the group’s governance. The statement added that individuals who have spoken to the press about IBBM and the group’s governance “do not in any way represent these trustees.”

A French Drinks Empire Under Strain

Castel Group began as a wine business in France and has grown into a vast empire encompassing wineries, vineyards, wine retail chains and online merchant Vinatis. In France, it owns assets including Saint-Émilion Grand Cru estate Château Montlabert and Cru Classé de Graves estate Domaine de la Solitude, and jointly owns the 1855 Fourth Growth Château Beychevelle with Suntory.

Its larger beer and soft drinks business is concentrated in Africa, where it operates around 61 beer brands.

D.F. Holding, which encompasses the group’s beer and wine businesses, recorded sales of about €6.5 billion in 2024, broadly flat year-on-year. However, dividends paid to shareholders surged nearly eightfold, from €43 million to €350 million.

In recent years, the French drinks giant has also faced repeated negative headlines, including a ruling that found founder Pierre Castel guilty of tax evasion and imposed heavy penalties, as well as allegations that a subsidiary was linked to an armed crime case in the Central African Republic.

The current power struggle between family members and professional management has further exposed long-simmering internal tensions at Castel Group, highlighting the fragility of governance and generational succession within the family-owned business. As some media have noted, the dispute appears to have entered a “final phase,” with fractures now clearly visible.