NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 08/20/08 -- AgFeed Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEED), the
largest commercial hog producer and the largest premix feed company in
China, today announced that Mr. Gerry Daignault, a renowned US feed and hog
industry executive, has joined AgFeed as its Chief Operating Officer in
charge of hog production and strategic development. Mr. Daignault will be
based in China and Nashville, Tennessee. He will join Dr. Songyan Li,
AgFeed's Chairman, in strategic discussions and participate in several
institutional investor presentations which will begin in September.
Prior to joining AgFeed, Mr. Daignault was a strategic advisor to AgFeed as
well as the managing director of Spectrum Agribusiness, a leading US hog
industry advisor co-founded by Mr. Dennis Harms, the former founder and CEO
of Premium Standard Farms, now a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.
Mr. Daignault, age 50, brings to AgFeed more than 26 years of senior US
executive experience including 18 years at the Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) level for several leading US and global agricultural companies in
animal feed and hog production. In the 1980s, he became the Director of
Finance at Purina Mills, the largest US feed company. In the late 1990s,
he was the CFO for PMAG Products, a subsidiary of Tate & Lyle, N.A., a
global leader in animal feeds and premix. His responsibilities included the
formulation and execution of an aggressive M&A strategy that led to the
consolidation of various operating subsidiaries and services positioning
the company for future growth. Additionally, Mr. Daignault was the CFO of
Newsham Hybrids, currently the 3rd largest swine genetics company in the
US. Before co-founding Spectrum Agribusiness in 2006, he was CFO/Director
of Finance for PIC North America, the largest swine genetics company in the
US and a leading swine genetics company in the world. While at PIC, Mr.
Daignault was responsible for operational and organizational restructuring
that allowed PIC to profitably reposition itself to meet the needs of the
rapidly consolidating North American pork industry. Under Mr. Daignault's
guidance, operating profit grew by more than 100% during that time until
the company was sold to Genus PLC, a London Stock Exchange listed company
in 2005. He stayed on during the successful integration of the two
businesses. He has a Bachelor's degree in finance and accounting from the
University of Missouri in 1979.
Songyan Li, Ph.D., AgFeed's Chairman, commented: "AgFeed continues to enjoy
robust growth in our current business. We are experiencing declining raw
material costs and expanded margins. Gerry is an exceptionally well
experienced hog and feed industry executive with extensive background in
hog production, feed marketing, accounting and finance. We are honored that
Gerry has joined AgFeed to lead our hog production and strategic
development efforts.