E-Malt.com News article: World: Castel heiress wins court ruling against CEO in family power struggle

Romy Castel, daughter of the founder of French drinks giant Castel, has won a Singapore court ruling confirming the removal of group CEO Gregory Clerc from a board within its ownership structure, marking a victory in a family power struggle without displacing him as head of the business, Vino Joy News reported on October 9.

Singapore’s High Court confirmed the validity of her votes to remove Clerc and Pierre François Alec Baer from the board of Investment Beverage Business Management Pte Ltd., or IBBM. Baer was also IBBM’s CEO and chairman.

The ruling concerns a company within the complex network of funds, trusts and holding companies behind Castel, whose businesses span wine, beer, soft drinks and agriculture. It does not remove Clerc as group CEO or establish that control of the group has changed hands.

In an October 2 statement, Romy’s side said the decision upheld her voting rights and the resolutions passed at a February 2 extraordinary general meeting to remove the two directors.

Romy said the outcome respected shareholders’ wishes and would help establish more transparent, professional governance. She accused Clerc of betraying her father Pierre Castel’s trust and said she would work with her cousin Philippe Castel, CEO of Castel Vins, and Alain Castel to develop the wine business.

Cassiopée and DF Holding pushed back in a statement issued the same day. They stressed that IBBM is not Castel’s parent company and that changes to its board do not amount to a transfer of control over the group.

Both companies expressed “full confidence” in Clerc as group CEO. They said the group is ultimately held through a trust structure, with trustees retaining the power to appoint Cassiopée’s directors.

IBBM’s significance lies in its place within Castel’s ownership structure, rather than in the day-to-day management of its drinks businesses.

According to Singapore court documents, IBBM manages the Investment Beverage Business Fund, or IBBF. The fund holds Cassiopée through a trust structure. The court described Cassiopée as Castel’s ultimate holding company, which in turn holds DF Holding and other companies within the group.

The dispute came to a head at IBBM’s February 2 extraordinary general meeting.

Romy Castel, Gilles Martignac and Guy De Clercq together hold 72.33% of IBBM’s shares, court documents show. But Baer, who chaired the meeting, refused to recognize Romy’s voting rights, preventing the resolutions to remove him and Clerc from being carried. The disagreement then moved to court.

On February 9, the High Court issued an interim injunction barring Clerc and Baer from acting as IBBM directors. Other board members subsequently resigned, leaving the company without any directors able to perform their duties by the end of June.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore raised concerns about the resulting governance vacuum, saying a company holding a capital markets services license could not sustainably operate without an effective board.

The court later rejected Clerc and Baer’s application to lift the injunction and allowed Romy’s side to take the steps needed to appoint three proposed directors.

Pierre Castel founded the business in 1949 and built it into a drinks group with extensive operations in France and Africa. Castel reported revenue of 6.954 billion euros in 2025 and employs about 43,000 people.

Clerc’s route to the top began in Switzerland, where he worked as a tax lawyer and became an adviser to the founder. Over years of collaboration, he joined the boards and strategic committees of Castel companies before becoming group CEO in 2023 – the first person outside the family to hold the position.

His appointment marked a shift toward professional management, but it also exposed disagreements over the family’s role.

Romy contends that Clerc accumulated too much power and increasingly excluded family members from important information and business decisions. His supporters say he was implementing Pierre Castel’s wish to separate ownership of the family’s assets from management of the business.

With the founder now 99, those competing views have become a struggle over who can exercise authority within the structures he established. The Singapore ruling settles the disputed IBBM board removals, while Clerc retains the backing of the companies overseeing the group’s operations.


09 October, 2026