Chicago | Reuters — Bunge Ltd. appointed the CEO of agrichemicals company Syngenta to its board on Wednesday as part of an agreement with activist investors D.E. Shaw and Continental Grain Co.
The global grains trader named J. Erik Fyrwald as a director, as it navigates low crop prices and the trade war that has slashed U.S. crop exports to China.
D.E. Shaw and Continental Grain had pushed Bunge to add board members in hopes of jolting the company into improved performance.
Read Also
CBOT weekly outlook: Soybeans/corn awaiting acreage data
Soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade posted some large price swings during the week ended March 25, as market participants reacted to the shifting news out of the Middle East and adjusted positions ahead of upcoming acreage data from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Bunge said in October it would add four directors and create a strategic review committee to explore options for the company, including a sale. Bunge named three of the directors at that time.
Fyrwald, 59, is a fourth mutually agreed-upon director, according to Bunge.
The board expansion comes after Bunge fielded unsuccessful takeover bids by rival Archer Daniels Midland and commodities trader Glencore.
ChemChina bought Syngenta for US$43 billion last year in China’s biggest foreign takeover to date. Fyrwald has been Syngenta’s CEO since 2016 and previously worked for DuPont.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago.
