Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) announced the appointment of Patrick Treuer as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with immediate effect, reporting to Chief Operating Officer, Michael Gelchie, a latest management reshuffle at the agricultural commodity giant. Patrick remains a member of LDC’s Senior Leadership Team and also retains his position as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer.

A Swiss national, Patrick Treuer joined LDC’s sister company Biosev in 2014 as Head of Strategy, a role he held until his appointment as Head of Strategy for LDC in 2015.Former CFO, Federico Cerisoli, remains with the company and will focus on coordinating LDC’s cost efficiency program, launched in November, reporting to Michael Gelchie.

LDC confirmed last month an internal memo announcing cost cuts, including on travel and hiring.

The group, known as Dreyfus, is the "D" of the ‘ABCD’ quartet of global traders that includes Archer Daniels Midland Co, Bunge Ltd and Cargill Inc. Like its peers, it has faced pressure from global trade tensions and an African swine fever epidemic in Asia, hampering its attempts to emerge from a period of falling margins for grain merchants. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who assumed control of LDC in 2009 when her husband Robert died and has since been forced to buy out most other family shareholders, has raised the possibility of opening the group's capital to outside investors, including by selling a stake to a regional market player.