The Capespan Group has acted quickly to fill the vacuum left by the resignation of Capespan Continent’s managing director Gerald Müller. Two senior executives have been appointed to jointly lead the company’s European division.
Capespan Fruit CEO, Leon van Biljon, said Martin Hagelberg, based in Hamburg, would take up the position of sales director Europe, while Andres Ramirez will hold the position of import and operations director Europe.
“The unit managers of the respective sales offices located in Antwerp, Paris, Vienna Switzerland and the sales team in Hamburg will report directly to Mr Hagelberg,' van Biljon explained. 'Mr Ramirez will work in close collaboration with Capespan’s Global Procurement based in Beaconsfield in the UK. The Benelux sales staff in Antwerp will report directly to Mr Ramirez.”
Van Biljon said the combined skills and expertise of the two executives complemented the customer-centric business philosophy of Capespan.
The rest of the management team at Capespan Continent includes Iggie Oberholster as finance & admin director, Cindy De Bleu as human resources manager and Tom Quets as chief information officer, who will all be based in the Antwerp office.
Van Biljon emphasised that Europe remains Capespan’s largest market and is of critical importance for the Group, and he will therefore personally stay intensively involved with Capespan Continent.
“The Group remains focused on continuing to grow the European market and the recent investment in vanWylick Fruchtimport enhances our ability to service new customers in Germany and neighbouring countries,' he outlined. 'The focus remains on both ends of the value chain with a dedicated approach to create value for all. The new management structure under the joint leadership of Martin and Andres will drive and expand our operations in Europe.”
Müller first joined Unifruco’s German operations back in 1989 and has been one of the longest serving executives of the Capespan Group, which was formed in 1999 when the two South African fruit exporting operations, Unifruco Ltd and Outspan International, merged their operations.
So far Müller has not commented on his future plans.
