Aryzta: The real job starts now

For new Aryzta chairman Gary McGann, offloading the firm’s stake in French supermarket chain Picard should be the first step in appeasing shareholders

Owen Killian, former chief executive, Aryzta Picture: Tony O’Shea

Private equity player Lyndon Lea was one of the midwives of Owen Killian’s Aryzta. Last week, he became one of Killian’s pallbearers.

Lea is the founder of Lion Capital, a private equity firm focused on food and consumer goods companies.

Polo-playing, married to a model, and with a reputation for ruthlessness, Lea was one of the architects in 2008 of the merger between IAWS – the Irish food wholesale outfit run by Killian – and German bakery firm Hiestand. That merger createdAryzta and turned Killian into a multinational chief executive.