The Capespan Group has appointed Johan Dique as its new chief executive officer, succeeding Neil Oosthuizen in January next year, who has been at the helm of the Capespan Group since 2001.
Mr Dique has been chief executive of Sanwes Ltd, a South African agriculture concern, for the past nine years.
Capespan said in a statement that Mr Dique had a track record of exceptional business leadership and performance and along with Capespan chairman, Dr Paul Clüver, he was well-placed to take the company to the next level of performance.
According to the statement Mr Oosthuizen has decided to retire after 13 years at the company. He will, however, remain involved with the group in a non-executive capacity. Mr Oosthuizen has recently been involved with an extensive strategic review of the the Capespan Group's operations.
Mr Dique is not well-known in the South African fresh produce industry. Senwes is an integrated agriculture-oriented enterprise that focuses on input supply and market access for producers, with the company’s activities focusing mainly on sectors such as the grain industry, trade and retail, the mechanisation market, agricultural services and insurance.
Capespan's announcement comes at a time when the company is reaching the final stages of a restructuring process which is based on a new strategy to continue to meet produce and market requirements.
The restructure has affected mainly the group's South African operations where activities have now to a great degree been centralised within the Capespan Fruit Division, with what was previously known as Capespan Exports, the local logistics and procurement operation, being phased out. Logistics, including the previously independent logistics service operation, the Fresh Chain, have been incorporated into the Fruit Division.
The Capespan Fruit Division is Capespan's international marketing division with subsidiaries around the world, handling more than 60m cartons of fruit annually. These include Fisher-Capespan in the US, Capespan International plc in the UK, Capespan Continent, based in Antwerp in Belgium, Metspan in the Far East and Goldspan in Japan.
During the past decade growers have increasingly dealt directly with Capespan's international marketing offices, using Capespan's South African services only where it made sense. The Fruit Division has also been particularly successful in extending the international sourcing of fresh produce, and the Capespan Group now obtains almost 50 per cent of its fruit from sources other than South Africa.
'The restructure is a pro-active step from Capespan to position itself for the future and service its suppliers in South Africa in the most practical way,' explained Sarel Joubert in a recent interview with fruitnet.com. 'Suppliers can now decide from a range of our services how they want their fruit handled and we have the best infra-structure to place it with customers in the world’s leading markets.'
Louis Kriel has been managing director of Capespan's Fruit Division, and has been acting group managing director for most of 2010 during Mr Oosthuizen's absence.
It is understood that senior executive Wikus Hellmann will head up Capespan South Africa's Operations, with Mr Joubert being head of the trading desk.
The restructure also led to a consolidation of group functions, with the Corporate Communications arm being dramatically reduced.
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