Jingtao Chi, CEO of COFCO Agri Ltd.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Jingtao (Johnny) Chi has been named chief executive officer of COFCO Agri Ltd. and COFCO International Ltd. He succeeds Matt Jansen, who has resigned from both positions for personal reasons. Jansen also has stepped down as a director of both companies.

“Johnny is intimately familiar with agricultural commodities as a result of his work with COFCO for the past 14 years,” said Patrick Yu, chairman of COFCO International Ltd. “Johnny successfully merged and consolidated three COFCO agriculture entities into a single platform that has produced a total turnaround in performance. He is well versed in the international agricultural business as he has led COFCO’s import and export business for the past seven years in his role as COFCO vice-president. We are confident that Johnny will lead COFCO international to our next stage of growth.”

Before joining COFCO in 2003, Chi held various positions in China National Metals & Minerals Import & Export Corp., including as general manager of human resources and general manager of personnel.

Jansen had been CEO of COFCO Agri since May 2015 and was named CEO of COFCO International in July 2016. Prior to joining COFCO, Jansen held a variety of positions at Archer Daniels Midland Co., including president of ADM’s Global Oilseeds business.

To ensure a smooth transition Jansen will serve as an adviser on an interim basis.

COFCO International is the overseas investment and management platform for the agribusinesses of COFCO, with its upstream origination and trading operations linked to the downstream processing and distribution capabilities of COFCO and its affiliates in China to create a fully integrated value chain, consistent with COFCO’s strategy.

COFCO International is the parent company of both COFCO Agri and Nidera, a Dutch company which is a global commodity service and solutions provider for agricultural markets. COFCO International actively manages and oversees the operation and compliance of the two subsidiaries via its own management team.

COFCO Agri engages in agricultural trading and processing businesses, which it originates from surplus-producing regions such as South America, South Africa, East Europe, North America and Australia, to supply regions with high demand such as China, Asia and the Middle East.

COFCO Agri owns and operates logistics and processing assets in strategic locations within key global trade flows. COFCO Agri had sales of $16.9 billion in 2015, and delivered 47 million tonnes of products globally, with 45 asset locations and 10,000 employees in 29 countries.