By Neena Rai
Agricultural trading giant Louis Dreyfus Commodities BV said it
has appointed Mayo Schmidt as chief executive officer, ending a
year-and-a-half-long search.
The choice of Mr. Schmidt, an outsider who spent most of his
career in the U.S. and Canada, marks a change for the closely held
family company, which has traditionally promoted staff internally.
The move, disclosed Friday, has also fed industry speculation that
Louis Dreyfus is preparing itself for an eventual public
offering.
Earlier this year, Louis Dreyfus added supervisory-board members
from outside the company. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, chairwoman of
the holding company that controls Louis Dreyfus, has said in
company filings that it is aligning the "business model and
operations more closely with those of a publicly listed company,"
while maintaining a family spirit.
"Everyone knows that they are preparing for an IPO one day and
have been trying to find merger partners for some time," said a
London-based grains broker.
Mr. Schmidt spent 12 years as president and CEO of Viterra Inc.,
a Canada-based global food-ingredients company, and has also worked
for the U.S.'s ConAgra Foods Inc. Mr. Schmidt left Viterra in 2012,
the year it was bought by commodities giant Glencore.
"He did a good job with Viterra," said Charlie Sernatinger, head
of grains trading at ED&F Man Capital Markets in Chicago.
"Essentially, he took two bankrupt cooperatives and made them
private, floated the stock and then sold the company to
Glencore."
Louis Dreyfus and its competitors Archer Daniels Midland Co.,
Bunge Ltd. and Cargill are known in the agriculture industry as the
"ABCD" group, who together lead the trading of agricultural
commodities. The firm is is among the top global merchandisers of
cotton, sugar, rice and citrus fruits.
Between 2006 and 2013, Louis Dreyfus's revenue quadrupled. The
company has said it wishes to double its revenue over the next four
years.
In September, Louis Dreyfus reported that earnings in the first
half of 2014 rose to $260 million from $258 million in the first
half of 2013. Revenue jumped 16%, to $33.7 billion, following
bumper grain harvests.
Mr. Schmidt, who succeeds interim CEO Claude Ehlinger, will
start work in January. Mr. Ehlinger will remain in his existing
role of chief financial officer and will also become deputy CEO,
the company said a statement.
Sarah Kent and Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.
Write to Neena Rai at neena.rai@wsj.com
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