Saint-Étienne headquartered Groupe Casino is a multinational mass retail company operating under a number of different subsidiaries, employing almost 350,000 people and commanding annual revenues close to €50bn. Jean-Yves Haagen has led legal support at the company since September 2014, and having been an in-house counsel for almost 30 years he has held various legal and executive positions in France and overseas in the energy and engineering sectors through his positions at French multinational groups Areva and Thales.

In his current role as group general counsel for Groupe Casino, Haagen advises on a number of different practice areas that see him draw on his career experience as well as his academic background. Looking to the future, Haagen will be crucial to the successful conclusion of exclusive talks between Auchan Retail and Groupe Casino to build a global strategic partnership for their food and non-food purchases, ensuring the terms of the deal are acceptable for the Group whilst satisfying the relevant French and European competition law.

He has completed Master’s degrees in both European Community law and advanced European studies at the European University Centre (CEU Nancy). Haagen also holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nancy.