March 10, 2005
Richina Pacific announces New Appointments and Organisation Structure
The Chairman of Richina Pacific Limited (RPL), Mr John L Walker, announced new senior appointments and the adoption of a
new organisational structure for Richina Pacific’s global businesses.
The restructuring and senior appointments became necessary following the much enlarged operational and asset base of the
Company that has resulted from the acquisition of a 90% interest in the former Chinese State-Owned-Enterprise, Shanghai
Leather Co. Ltd., with its 43 subsidiaries and 8 associated companies, and its more than 7,000 employees.
The new appointments and organisational structure will strengthen governance, corporate and operational management, and
will provide for a more efficient and cost effective way of managing the businesses within four principal operational
sectors. The changes are expected to take up to twelve months to implement.
The four operational divisions and the new appointments are as follows:
Operational Divisions – Each of the currently separate operating entities will be grouped under one of the following
operating businesses, namely:
Richina Financial Richina Land Richina Industries Richina Services
An enlarged and more centralized RPL corporate, administrative and services organization will be established to support
these operational divisions with offices in Singapore, Shanghai and Auckland. It is expected that following
consolidation of certain administrative and support services within each of the new operating business sectors, and
through increased centralised corporate management, there will be overhead savings and improved governance. Further
details regarding RPL and its operational structure are available on the Company’s revamped website –
www.richinapacific.com.
Appointments – To best develop both the existing and newly acquired operations, it has been necessary to complement the
existing small corporate management team with the appointment of appropriately skilled and experienced executives.
Appointments to date are as follows:
Mr Roger Wang Executive Director of Richina Pacific Limited
Shanghai-based Roger Wang, who has been a Director of RPL since 1999, has been appointed Executive Director, with
primary responsibility for leading the establishment of the Richina Services businesses. In addition, Mr Wang will lead
the transition team for SLC in Shanghai.
Mr Robert Stearns Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Richina Pacific Limited
United States-based, Robert Stearns has been appointed, effective from March 1, 2005, Executive Vice President and CFO
for Richina Pacific.
Prior to joining Richina, Mr Stearns held senior positions with a number of very large and well-known US-based banks and
corporations. In his new capacity at RPL, Mr Stearns will have primary responsibility for Accounting, Finance, Treasury
and Tax, as well as Human Resources, Legal and Technology throughout the RPL Group, and he will work closely with the
CEO to build Richina Financial. It is expected that these corporate departments will play a much more active role in
managing and monitoring each of our business operations going forward.
To that end, all finance functions of the operational sectors will also have reporting lines to Mr Stearns as well as to
their respective CEOs.
Mr Huo Jian Guo Senior Vice President of Richina Pacific (China) Investment Limited
Richina Pacific has appointed Mr Huo Jian Guo as a Senior Vice President of Richina Pacific (China) Investment Limited,
effective January 1, 2005. Prior to joining Richina, Mr Huo was the Chairman and General Manager of SLC, a position he
held since 1995, the year RPL negotiated the Shanghai Richina Leather joint venture agreement with SLC. Prior to being
appointed Chairman and General Manager of SLC, Mr. Huo has held a wide range of senior positions with SLC and its
affiliates since 1973.
Mr Huo will continue to lead SLC as a Director and its General Manager and he will also be actively involved in RPL’s
future investments in the Shanghai area, particularly in connection with additional State-Owned-Enterprise (SOE) reform
efforts, leveraging his intimate knowledge and extensive relationships within the Shanghai government and SOE
establishment.
Mr Mark Lecher Senior Vice President of Richina Pacific (China) Investment Limited
Mr Lecher has been appointed Senior Vice President of Richina Pacific (China) Investments Ltd, and will be primarily
responsible for the development of businesses under Richina Industries.
Prior to joining Richina Pacific, Mr Lecher held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of GST
AutoLeather Inc. Prior to that, he was the CFO for both GST AutoLeather and Strategic Industry LLC, the parent company
of GST AutoLeather Inc.
GST AutoLeather is a leading American automobile leather supplier, which has recently entered into a strategic
partnership with our subsidiary Shanghai Richina Leather for the manufacture of auto leather.
Mr Lecher will relocate with his family to Shanghai in 2005, and he will be primarily responsible for developing the SLC
industrial businesses.
Mr Frank Shen Senior Vice President of Richina Pacific (China) Investment Limited
Mr Shen, who is Shanghai-based, joined Shanghai Richina Leather in 1997 as its Chief Financial Officer. In 2003, he
transferred to Richina Pacific (China) Investment Limited, RPL’s Chinese Holding Company, as its CFO, and he played an
integral role in the acquisition of SLC. Mr Shen is being promoted to Senior Vice President in recognition of his
significant contribution to the successful completion of the acquisition of SLC. In this new capacity, Mr. Shen will
take on the lead role for project development and focus on new acquisitions and projects for Richina Pacific in China.
Richina Pacific expects to continue to add to its functional and operational capabilities with additional appointments
of people with relevant experience to help build its new organizations.
Mr John Walker, Chairman, said, “We look forward to working with the expanded team members to take full advantage of
their skills, expertise and experience to broaden and complement our existing management.”
ENDS