Nicola CHIARANDA

·       Global Finance & Strategy executive with over 30 years’ career in public multinational groups, mainly in Agribusiness and Food production, in Italy, France, Switzerland, USA, Spain and Saudi Arabia

·       Significant Board Experience in Public & Private companies as Non-Executive Director, Member of Risk, Audit, Strategy, Finance and Remuneration Committees

·       Professor of Corporate Finance, Private Equity & Development Funding at the University of Venice (Italy) 

·       Broad experience managing Finance, Risk & Control functions across different geographies

·       Broad experience in Strategy, Investment, Mergers & Acquisitions, due diligences, post-acquisition integrations

·       Optimization of processes and controls, implementation of new systems

·       Strong people management, change management and communication skills

·       Italian Charted Accountant and Certified Legal Auditor

·       Speaking Italian (mother language), English, French, Spanish, German

BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXPERIENCE

Current roles

·       2022- now  Investment Committee Member of Fondo Italiano Agritech & Food

Fondo Italiano Agritech & Food - FIAF, managed by Fondo Italiano Investimento SGR, indirectly partecipated by the Italian Government, via Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, aims to invest in Italian Agritech and Food companies to strengthen the Agrifood Value Chain making it more strategic and technological

Former roles

·       2022-2025  Independent Non-Exec Director, Risk Committee chair, and member of the Audit and Strategy Committees of Barloworld Limited, listed at Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa

Barloworld – www.barloworld.com -  listed at the Johannesburg stock exchange has two primary areas of focus: Industrial Equipment (Caterpillar dealerships) and Consumer Industries (food and ingredient solutions, being the largest South African starch and glucose producer)

Key Achievements

·       Completed exit from non-core businesses with the unbundling of the Avis car business while pivoting business portfolio into more asset light and defensive businesses

·       FY 2022 Revenues of $ 2.8 Billion, EBITDA 15.7%, Operating Profit 11.4%

·       Enhanced IT security strategy and Cybersecurity Response Plan

·       Introduced new Group Business Continuity Plan and new Regulatory Compliance Framework

·       2018-2019 - NED, Audit Committee, Risk Committee and Remuneration Committee member at G3 Group of Companies, Canada G3

   G3 is Canada’s newest big scale, with over $2 Billion turnover, grain handler, purchasing a

   wide range of   grains, oilseeds and special crops from farmers and third parties across

   Canada and market  them to customers around the world.

Key Achievements

ü  Successfully managed CEO succession

ü  Completed on time and on budget the construction  of CAD 1 Billion grain terminal in Vancouver

ü  Redesigned Management Variable Comp according to best practices

·       2018-2019 - Member of the Finance Committee of Minerva Foods, listed at the San Paolo Stock Exchange, Brazil Investor Relations - Minerva Foods

Minerva Foods is one of the South American leaders in the production and sale of beef and its by-products, as well as in live cattle exports, and it also maintains operations in the meat processing segment.

Key Achievements

ü  Revenues $4.2 Billion, 9.6% EBITDA margin

ü  $240 million capital raise @ $1.55/share, now trading @2.31 $/share

·       1995-1996 NED of Heracles & Halkis, Greece, leading Greek cement public companies, listed at the Athens Stock Exchange, Greece, subsequently bought by Blue Circle/Lafarge

·       1995-1997 NED of Antibioticos SpA & Antibioticos SA, Spain & Italy, leading pharmaceutical company

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Cropfield Consulting SAS (Neuilly sur Seine - France) – Managing Director – April 2020 – now

Cropfield Consulting, www.cropfieldconsulting.com, my consulting firm, is a boutique advisory firm providing advice on strategy and finance topics particularly to Agribusiness and Food companies and investors in those industries

 
University of Venice (Italy) – Professor of Corporate Finance & Private Equity – September 2019 – 2025
I am teaching Corporate Finance and Private Equity & Development Funding at the University of Venice, Italy

Areas of specialization include: M&A and inorganic growth (from deal origination to target integration), fundraising, value creation techniques, risk management, valuation, portfolio optimization, corporate governance

Saudi Agriculture and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC)
 

Salic is the Food Security investment arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, controlled by the Public Investment Fund owned by the government and investing several billion USD across over 20 countries to control access to and ability to buy 12 key soft commodities for which Saudi Arabia heavily depends on imports (wheat, barley, corn, sugar, rice, soybeans, greed fodder, vegetable oil, red meat, poultry, seafood, diary).

SALIC Group Advisor to Salic CEO (London) – September 2019 – January 2020
 

SALIC Group Chief Financial Officer (Riyadh) - January 2018 – August 2019

As SALIC Group CFO, I oversaw all Finance activities (Treasury, Accounting, Control, Financial Transactions, Financial Planning & Analysis) in SALIC as well as in its fully owned subsidiaries and I was sitting in the Board of Directors and in Board Committees of its main invested companies. I managed with my team the relationship with the financial institutions and investors. I also was very active in the definition of SALIC Strategy as well as in the investment activities, participating in the identification, due diligence, valuation, and negotiation of the companies to acquire.

Key Achievements

ü  Revamped Salic Finance Function, with several new hires, introduction of best practices, strong processes and policies

ü  Completed new investments for over $ 400 Million in 2018, including farms, meat companies and grain companies Obtained new bank lines for $ 1.3 billion in 2018 and

ü  Obtained new equity from shareholder for $ 800 million

 
BUNGE - August 2002 – December 2017
 

Bunge is a leading global Agribusiness and Food industrial group listed at the NYSE, present in all continents with over $ 40 billion turnover and over 30,000 employees

Chief Financial Officer Bunge South Europe (Barcelona - Spain) - September 2015 – December 2017
 

South Europe is one of the largest Bunge regions, with over $ 3 Billion turnover, encompassing Portugal, Spain, Italy and Turkey, including 9 industrial plants, active in oilseed crushing, meal production, vegetable oil refining, bottling, branding & retail distribution, biodiesel and distribution of vegetable meals and grains.

I oversee all Finance, business development as well as all IT and procurement activities in the region, with a team of over 70 people in the different countries.

Key achievements:

ü  revamp of the finance function in the region, with significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes

ü  dramatic improvement of the control environment, with elimination of SOX deficiencies

ü  creation of a regional Shared Service Center supporting 5 countries and over 30 business units

ü  reduction of bad debts, in excess of $ 1 M per year

ü  inorganic growth with important acquisitions and capital investment projects for over

$ 400 Million

Global Director of Finance Operational Excellence at Bunge Limited (White Plains, New York - USA) - January 2011 – August 2015
 

Reporting to the Bunge Limited Chief Financial Officer, I lead a multi-year global transformation of the Finance area involving 1400 people and affecting all Bunge regions. I was also in charge of Enterprise Data Management, with the goal of improving data quality and introduce strong data governance across the group.

Key achievements of the position were:

ü  standardization, automation and leverage all finance processes and activities

ü  significant cost reductions (over $ 20 M /year) and improvements in the quality of data, systems and people

ü  Design and delivery of design of ad hoc finance people training and development program in co-operation with HR

Vice President Business Development & Innovation at BUNGE Europe (Geneva - Switzerland) - January 2008 – December 2010
 

Reporting to the Bunge Europe CEO, I was in charge of M&A sourcing and execution, Capex project approval, coordinating innovation project across the region.

Major achievements of the position were:

ü  revamping the M&A function in Europe with optimization of the planning processes

ü  Capex projects for over $ 700 M dollars approved

ü  acquisition of silos, ports, margarine companies, palm downstream businesses, joint venture with partners in Africa

ü  launch of several new innovative products in different European countries

Strategic Planning director, Agribusiness at Bunge Limited (White Plains, New York - USA) - April 2006 – December 2007
 

Reporting to the Group Strategic Planning VP, I was in charge of facilitating the definition of the group Agribusiness strategy, the capital allocation across regions and the approval by the CEO and the Board of directors of all major group agribusiness related acquisition and capital investment.

Key achievements of the positions were:

ü  streamlining capital allocation (over $ 1 billion / year), capex and acquisition project approvals and the annual budgeting processes

ü  promoting the entry of the group into the biofuel industry in North and South America, with the approval of new capital investments and JVs

ü  approval of several crush plants and port projects across the globe for well over $ 500 Million

Director of Tax and Financial Control at BUNGE EUROPE (Paris / Geneva – Switzerland) - August 2002 – March 2006
Reporting to the Bunge Europe CFO, I oversaw financial control, consolidation, and tax across BEMEA.

Major achievements of the position were:

ü financial and tax integration in Bunge of the Cereol Group (4,5 billion USD turnover, acquired by Bunge in October 2002)

ü migration from French Gaap to US Gaap reporting standard

ü improved group reporting frequency and timeliness: from every 3 months on D+ 20 to every month on D+5

ü implementation of Sarbanes Oxley rules and control structure for all the European entities of the group

MONTEDISON Group - September 1994 - July 2002

Montedison was a conglomerate listed at the Milan stock exchange with about 13 billion € turnover, controlling Eridania Béghin-Say (with its sugar division (Beghin-Say), starch division (Cerestar), vegetable meal & oil division (Cereol) and animal nutrition division (Provimi)) and other companies in power generation (Edison), pharma (Antibioticos), chemical specialties (Himont/Montell), engineering (Technimont), cement (Calcestruzzi, Heracles) and insurance (La Fondiaria).

Chief financial officer at CERESTAR (Paris – France) - September 2001 – July 2002
 

Cerestar, with about € 2 billion turnover, was the European leader in the starch industry and derivatives. It was listed at the Paris Stock exchange

Reporting to Cerestar CEO, major achievements of the position were:

ü significant recovery of the operating result

ü organizing and supervising the due diligence of the Cerestar Group by Cargill concluded with the sale of Cerestar to Cargill

ü financial integration of Cerestar in the Cargill Reporting System and

ü de-listing of Cerestar from the Paris Stock Exchange

Group Tax Director at ERIDANIA BEGHIN-SAY (Paris - France) - October 1998 – August 2001
 

Eridania Béghin-Say (EBS) was a multinational group active in the agro-industrial sector with an annual turnover of approximately 10 billion € and more than 200 subsidiaries in about 35 countries.

Reporting to the Group CFO, I co-ordinated 9 tax managers in different countries/areas with responsibility for Group tax policy, tax optimization and involved in all important M&A deals.

International Tax Manager at MONTEDISON SPA (Milan - Italy) - September 1994 – September 1998
 

Reporting to the Group tax director, I was responsible for international tax planning and for the tax optimization of the restructuring and divestiture of many foreign subsidiaries to allow the reduction of the very large group consolidated debt

International Tax  specialist  at  ASSICURAZIONI  GENERALI  (Trieste  -  Italy)                                                                                                            - October 1991 – August 1994

Assicurazioni Generali is one of the largest European insurance groups, listed at the Milan stock exchange

Tax specialist at STUDIO TOMASIN CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS (Venice - Italy)
- October 1988 – September 1991

EDUCATION

Degree in Economy (University of Venice, 1988) 110/110, Chartered Accountant (1989) and  

 Certified Italian Legal Auditor (Revisore Legale)

Post graduate training: corporate training programs at INSEAD (Fontainebleau) in 1997/1998 and Olin School of Business (Saint-Louis, Missouri) in 2005

September 2026