newzealandinc.com Informed. Influential. Indispensable.
Former Fonterra director Greg Gent has been appointed independent chairman of Pengxin NZ Farm Management; the company which oversees the jv between Shanghai Pengxin and state-owned Landcorp. The Gent appointment is a coup for Pengxin and its Landcorp partner.
Gent told newzealandinc.com that it was important for New Zealand that the joint-venture was made to work smoothly.
There are six other directors: Bill Bayliss, Rick Braddock, Marise James, Chris Kelly (the out-going Landcorp CEO), Terry Lee and Yaohua (Daniel) Lu.
Terry Lee is a NZ citizen and Pengxin’s NZ representative.
Yaohua Lu runs Pengxin’s global agribusiness interests and is also a director on Pengxin controlled Hong Kong listed company InterChina. Yaohua is a former Deputy GM at Bright Dairy, the majority Chinese investor in Synlait, and has a strong background in the dairy sector.
Well-known dairy figure John Luxton had earlier looked at taking on the chairmanship but is understood to have declined because of time commitments.