Beijing, China
December 3, 2018
Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology and rural e-commerce company, today announced key management changes. Dr. Gengchen Han, the Executive Chairman of the Company, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company between 1997 and 2009 and between 2011 and 2016, has returned to become Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Dr. James Chen, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is now the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. The Company also announced that Mr. Shuangcheng Zhou will become the President of the Company upon the closing of the Share Subscription Agreement signed on October 16, 2018 between the Company and Longhan Investment Co., Ltd. ("Longhan").
Mr. Zhou is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Longhan, the company he started in 2010. Mr. Zhou has served as the Chairman of China National Travel Industry Corporation previously. He has also been the Vice President of the National Research Institute of Policy Science and Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of the Silk Road Special Fund Committee, among other positions in various government entities.
"I'm excited to return as the CEO of the Company and to welcome Mr. Zhou to our management team as we're moving into new strategic directions of an Origin e-Commune Network and the ISALR cooperation programs with Longhan," said Dr. Gengchen Han. He continued, "Our board and I thank Dr. Chen for his excellent service as CEO during this challenging period of time and we trust that his continuing service as CFO will serve well for the Company."
"I'm thrilled to join Origin's management team and very happy to work with Dr. Han, Origin's board and its management team," said Mr. Zhou, "I believe our cooperation program in ISALR technologies could create a major new business that will take Origin to a much higher level. Our teams have already been working together and are identifying business opportunities to implement in 2019 and beyond."
"I have been a strong believer for Origin and Dr. Han's leadership. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to help the Company moving into the new strategic directions. The return of Dr. Han back as the CEO, the ISALR cooperation program with Longhan, and Mr. Zhou's agreement to join Origin's management team will set a strong basis for the business growth going forward," said Dr. Chen.
The ISALR (Integrated Saline-Alkaline Land Reclamation) cooperation programs with Longhan is the technology cooperation between Origin and Longhan. Origin and Longhan agreed to commercialize the ISALR technologies and target to plant on 1 million mu (~165,000 acres) of saline-alkaline land in 2019.
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