Carrefour close to replacing chief executive Carrefour is in the final stages of negotiations to replace Lars Olofsson as its chief executive with veteran French retailer Georges Plassat after months of turmoil at the world's second-largest retailer by sales. Mr Plassat, head of privately owned retailer Vivarte and a former Carrefour senior executive, is set to become the French group's third chief executive in four years, reflecting a push for a turnround by the group's private equity shareholders. An announcement is expected at the beginning of next week. Shares in Carrefour rose 8 per cent as news of Mr Olofsson's departure emerged on Thursday. Colony Capital of the US and Groupe Arnault, the private investment arm of luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, together own 16 per cent of the shares and are sitting on paper losses of €2bn on their 2007 joint investment. The choice of Mr Plassat comes just two months after the board of Carrefour denied that it was seeking to replace Mr Olofsson. This came amid persistent rumours that the former senior Nestlé executive was living on borrowed time after issuing five profit warnings in the past 18 months. Carrefour declined to comment. Vivarte, which is controlled by UK private equity group Charterhouse, operates the Kookai fashion group and retail chain.