Thomas Hunter McGowan is to part company with Kerry Co-op. McGowan has been CEO and secretary of the co-op for five years, filling a vaccuum left by the withdrawal of Kerry Group executives Stan McCarthy and Brian Durran from those roles.

He leaves as Kerry Co-op yet again stands at a crossroads. It’s understood the board, led by chair Denis Carroll, wants to restart negotiations with Kerry Group about buying into Kerry’s Irish business.

With McGowan departing, who will lead those negotiations? The Irish Farmers Journal understands that John McKenna is the person the board has in mind for the job.

McKenna, who has worked in Ornua, in a UK infant formula startup and in New Zealand co-op Westlands, met with the board in June with this role envisaged for him.

While no formal link-up has occurred, he is regarded as the preferred candidate of the board to take on this pivotal role.

Meanwhile, the board is also responding to the desire of a group of shareholders to call an SGM. It’s understood that at last Friday’s board meeting, the decision was taken to call such a meeting themselves.

Whether a proposal from the board will satisfy those shareholders who want a vote that limits the power of the board to spend shareholders’ funds remains to be seen.

Almost 1,200 letters were lodged seeking to link 5.9 plc shares to every co-op share, which would restrict the board’s power.

Finally, the board must decide on what to do about the long-running arbitration saga. The process is effectively back to stage one, as the co-op and the plc have failed to reach a negotiated settlement on foot of the arbitrator’s findings, delivered in 2019.

There are questions over how a judgement can be delivered and by whom, as the previous arbitrator is not currently available.