EUROGROUP CONSULTING & AFFILIATES IN ACTION

Groupe Danone
Through EUROGROUP CONSULTING, Prospectus was approached to assist in the relocation of Danone Finance activities from France to Ireland and the establishment of a fully functional legal and operational entity.

Project Title:  
Programme management of Danone Finance's cash management function relocation from Paris to Dublin.

Project Description:  
In September 2004 Groupe Danone, a major international food group, took a strategic decision to relocate its worldwide cash management operations to Ireland. A dedicated company, Danone Finance Ireland Ltd (DFI) was incorporated in December 2004 to accommodate these operations. DFI, fully owned by Groupe Danone, was capitalised in April 2005, the date of operations transfer.

The DFI cash management function services 120 commercial business units globally.

Groupe Danone identified a requirement for external programme and project management support to Danone Finance, over a six-month period. The objectives of this support were to establish a fully functional legal and operational entity and to ensure the smooth and seamless transfer of the full cash management operations from Paris to Dublin.

Prospectus was engaged to programme manage this relocation and implemented leading practice programme and project methodologies to support the achievement of the successful relocation.

Project Duration: 
Six months (November 2004 to April 2005).

Methodology Used:

Working with the Group Treasurer, Corporate Finance Director and other senior DFI personnel based in Paris and Brussels, the Prospectus approach involved the following steps:

• Planning and programme managing the relocation of the entire cash management operation (systems, processes, people etc.) from Paris to Dublin. This involved establishing a leading-practice Programme Office to manage and support the relocation. A team of Prospectus Consultants, a Eurogroup Senior Consultant based in Paris and the assigned Danone Project Managers (fifteen people) communicated and reported to the Programme Office.
• Based on leading practice and Prospectus' experience of similar large-scale change programmes, Prospectus defined the appropriate programme and project management methodology for use in this relocation. Prospectus provided hands on input to the Danone Project Managers to ensure a standardised and consistent approach to the relocation planning, implementation and reporting.
• Working with relevant third parties (global banks, IT and telco suppliers, legal and tax advisors, estate agents etc.) to establish a fully functional legal and operational entity.
• Ensuring that the transfer of the daily cash management function, provided to 120 global business units, was achieved in a seamless manner with no material impact on the business.

The entity successfully went ?live? in Dublin on 1 April 2005.

The deliverable on this piece of work was not only a successful relocation for Danone but also a project management methodology and in-house skill base that could benefit other strategically important initiatives within Danone.