by Ronald de Groot
Otto Lenselink, 56, sold his eponymous Dutch importing company to the Belgian enterprise Fourcroy in 1995. He stayed on as managing director in the
new company, Fourcroy-Lenselink, under the condition that he alone would make all strategy and portfolio decisions. Since Alfred Fourcroy took over last year from his father Georgy tensions began to mount. This has now ended, after several quarrels, in Lenselink s resignation. Lenselink: Brussels wanted to implement a company strategy for both Belgium and the Netherlands. I don t think it is possible to operate on the Dutch market working from Brussels, but I was unable to convince Alfred. So I decided to leave.
It remains to be seen how producers that had a strong personal relation with Otto Lenselink will react to this move. Fourcroy-Lenselink is one of the main on-trade players, representing Baron Philippe, a wide range of South Africans such as Vergelegen and Thelema, Ramos Pinto, Champagne Deutz, Delas, Bernardus, Leflaive and many more. Lenselink apparently made two offers to buy back the company, but Fourcroy refused.
