Patrick Ricard: obituary

Patrick Ricard, the chairman of Pernod Ricard, died suddenly in Toulon last Friday. French media reports say he was rushed from the Ricard family island of Bendor to the Sainte-Anne hospital following a heart attack but died soon after arrival.

Patrick Ricard, 1945-2012

M. Ricard, 67, had spent his working life transforming Pernod Ricard from a parochial French distiller with 17% of its sales outside its domestic market into the second largest global spirits company, with France now accounting for just 10% of last year’s turnover.

Patrick Ricard was born in 1945, the son of Paul Ricard, who founded the pastis group in 1932. He once said that he had little choice about joining the family company. “Papa would have regarded it as a form of betrayal had I not joined Ricard. In those days, you did what you were told.”

He held various posts within Ricard and became managing director in 1972. After the merger with bigger rival Pernod in 1975, Patrick Ricard took over the reins of the combined group and set course on a period of expansion which saw the group double in size every seven years, a pattern that continued until his untimely death. He combined the roles of chairman and chief executive until 2008, when he stepped back from day-to-day functions, handing over the reins to Pierre Pringuet, but retained the chairmanship.

Patrick Ricard’s chain of acquisitions (in chronological order) included Campbelll Distillers, Austin Nichols in the US, Ramazzotti in Italy, Irish Distillers and Orlando Wyndham. He also created Havana Club International in Cuba.

But it was in 2000 that he oversaw the takeover that was really to set Pernod Ricard on a path of incredible growth. By joining forces with Diageo to dismember the floundering Seagram, the French company gained the volumes and brands (including Chivas Brothers) that turned it into a truly global group.

As soon as the group’s balance sheet was sufficiently resilient once again, Patrick Ricard led the takeover of Allied Domecq in 2005, and hardly had that huge portfolio been integrated before he swooped on Vin & Sprit in 2008 to gain the iconic Absolut vodka. Accused of overpaying at the time, he retorted that Absolut would be “available only once”. 

Indeed, there is a bitter irony that next week Pernod Ricard is expected to announce full-year results showing record profitability and the debt amassed to win Vin & Sprit being largely paid down.

At the same time as turning Pernod Ricard’s portfolio into one of the industry’s most powerful, Patrick Ricard also set a management trend away from centralisation. He recognised that owning a distribution network was key to success in any country and thus gave considerable freedom to Pernod Ricard’s national sales teams to operate within overall brand plans. “Global reach, local control”, he once called his corporate philosophy.

Outside Pernod Ricard, Patrick Ricard was an urbane, charming man, but one who did not suffer fools gladly. During his career, he held a number of outside directorships, including being on the main board of Société Générale, the giant French bank. In 2006, Forbes magazine named him its “European Businessman of the Year”. He was also a Commander of the Legion d’Honneur.

Like his father before him, Patrick Ricard was a patron of the arts through the Paul Ricard Foundation, enjoying opera and modern art in particular. He was also a keen huntsman. Mr Ricard is survived by his wife and three children.

Speculation in Paris is now turning to who will be the new chairman of Pernod Ricard. While day-to-day running of the group will remain with Pringuet, observers suggest that the king-maker (if not necessarily the king-elect) will be Patrick Ricard’s nephew Alexandre Ricard, who joined the main board in 2009. He is chairman of Société Paul Ricard, the family vehicle that controls 14% of the global company’s equity.

After gaining an MA in international studies and an MBA In finance entrepreneurship, Alexandre Ricard, 40, has held a succession of roles within Pernod Ricard, including heading Irish Distillers, the duty free operation in Asia. He now runs the group’s global distribution operations.