Former Univeg CEO heads to Vion Food Group

Kint will be part of board

When the merger between frozen food giant Greenyard Foods, fruit and vegetable distributor Univeg and compost company Peatinvest was approved, Francis Kint was in line to become Chief Operating Officer of the new merger group led by former Douwe Egbert employee Marleen Vaesen. Instead, Francis Kint will become Vion Food Group’s CEO, a Dutch meat processing company with 11,950 employees and a 5 billion euro turnover. He will replace temporary CEO Tom Heidman on 1 September.

Kint arrived at Univeg in 2009 as the Managing Director of its German subsidiary and became the overall CEO four years later. He will keep his position as a non-executive member of Greenyard Foods’ board of directors and will also become part of the new food giant’s Strategic Committee.

“We respect Francis’ decision“, CEO Marleen Vaesen said. She will also take charge of his tasks as he leaves the company. “We will adjust our company structure to support the recent merger and the synergies between the Fresh, Prepared and Substrate divisions.” Hein Deprez praised Kint as “the engine of integration after a period of increased growth”.