May 5 (Reuters) - An investment fund controlled by

Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure decided to appoint just one

member to the board of retail chain Grupo Pao de Açucar (GPA) at

a shareholder meeting on Monday.

"We chose to elect only one independent candidate whom we

trust, with deep knowledge of the retail market, as a way to

protect our investment, given the difficult scenario we foresee

for GPA," Tanure told Reuters.

Tanure, who now owns about 7% of GPA's shares,

had requested the removal of the previous board of directors

earlier this year and election of new members, including three

representatives appointed by him.

However, other groups of investors who were not represented

on the board decided to appoint members as well, diluting

support for Tanure's appointees. This motivated him to withdraw

the names of two other people he had nominated, a source with

knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.

GPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, Tanure acquired GPA shares on the market and has

since been interested in buying additional securities from

French group Casino, as Reuters reported in March.