Chiquita's top banana - Arrivals - Chiquita Brands International Inc - Cyrus Freidheim Jr - Brief Article - Company Profile

Chief Executive, The, June, 2002 by Sonja Sherwood

NINE LONG COSTLY YEARS after Chiquita Brands International embarked on its trade war with the European Union for access to Europe's markets, the Cincinnati-based fruit importer has emerged from bankruptcy with new owners and a new CEO.

As part of the terms of the bankruptcy, Chiquita gave 95.5 percent ownership of the company and five board seats to its bondholders, who in turn agreed to cancel debt worth $700 million.

Their choice for chairman and CEO was Cyrus Freidheim Jr., former vice chairman of Booz Allen & Hamilton, where he specialized in helping CEOs restructure their companies. He replaces, as of April 1, Steven Warshaw, a Chiquita veteran who resigned without comment when new ownership took over.

At 66, Freidheim was about to embark on retirement when a team of bondholders convinced him to stay in the fray. "It's a switch for me," he says. "I've been working with CEOs all my life as a consultant, and so I go from figuring things out and telling them what to do, to figuring things out and going ahead and doing it. It's a great transition."

He'll have plenty to keep him busy. Chiquita lost over a billion dollars in Europe during the banana ban, according to the company, and has nowhere near the 40 percent market share it once enjoyed.

Even so, Freidheim is optimistic. "I think Chiquita has a good balance sheet and a real opportunity for improvement in an industry that's in chaos," he says. "At a point in my life where I could easily have said no, it was fun to say yes."