Ning Gaoning, the 58-year-old head of COFCO Group (hereinafter "COFCO"), will move to Sinochem Group (hereinafter "Sinochem") to serve as chairman.

On the afternoon of January 5, 2016, Sinochem Group held a meeting for middle-level and above managers. Wang Jingqing, Deputy Head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, announced the decision on the change of main leaders of Sinochem Group: Comrade Ning Gaoning was appointed as Chairman and Party Secretary of Sinochem Group. Liu Deshu, the former Chairman and Party Secretary of Sinochem Group, retired from the leadership team due to age. The appointment and removal of the chairman position will be handled in accordance with relevant legal provisions and the company's articles of association.

Eleven years ago, Ning Gaoning, who had worked at China Resources Group for nearly 20 years, was parachuted into COFCO to succeed Zhou Mingchen as chairman. When Ning Gaoning first took over COFCO, its assets were nearly 60 billion yuan, while now COFCO's assets exceed 71.9 billion US dollars (approximately 465.423 billion yuan), ranking 272nd on the 2015 Fortune Global 500 list.

Ning Gaoning, born in November 1958, majored in economics and is a master of capital operations. His ability in acquisitions and integration is well-known in the industry. As early as at China Resources, Ning Gaoning demonstrated his operational capabilities in the capital market. In addition to publicly making large-scale investments in mainland businesses, he also completed the initial strategy of diversified transformation for China Resources. Among the many mergers and acquisitions at China Resources, the most well-known is his leading series of mergers and acquisitions for China Resources Snow Breweries. During his tenure at China Resources, Ning Gaoning also transformed the group from a foreign trade enterprise into an investment group.

According to incomplete statistics, after joining COFCO in 2004, Ning Gaoning led more than 50 mergers and acquisitions, involving companies such as Wugu Daochang and Mengniu. In 2013, COFCO defeated its rival Sinograin to acquire the grain logistics enterprise Hualiang, achieving the "integration of three grain enterprises" (COFCO, COFCO Cereals, and Hualiang), unifying domestic grain trade, foreign trade, and logistics operations, making COFCO the largest grain and oil trader in China.

In addition, Ning Gaoning vigorously promoted COFCO's "whole industry chain" concept, advocating that each segment develop along the industry chain, forming a portfolio of brands and services including Fulinmen edible oil, Great Wall wine, Wugu Daochang instant noodles, Joy City Shopping Mall, Yalong Bay Resort, and many others.

Now, COFCO's business covers agricultural product trade, logistics, processing, and grain and oil food production and sales, providing grain and oil food to nearly a quarter of the world's population, with products spanning multiple fields. As an investment holding enterprise, COFCO owns eight listed companies, including China Foods, COFCO Holdings, Mengniu Dairy, COFCO Packaging, Joy City Property (five Hong Kong-listed companies), as well as three mainland companies: COFCO Tunhe, COFCO Real Estate, and COFCO Biochemical.

Next, Sinochem Group, where Ning Gaoning may go, is also a Fortune Global 500 enterprise, ranking 105th on the 2015 Fortune Global 500 list.

According to Sinochem Group's official website, Sinochem Group was established in 1950, formerly known as China National Chemicals Import & Export Corporation, and was once China's largest foreign trade enterprise. The current chairman of Sinochem Group, Liu Deshu, was born in November 1952 and is 63 years old, serving as chairman since August 2014.

Similar to COFCO, Sinochem Group's business also spans multiple fields closely related to people's daily lives. According to its official website, Sinochem Group's main businesses are distributed in five major areas: energy, agriculture, chemicals, real estate, and finance, and it is one of China's four national oil companies.

Currently, Sinochem Group has more than 300 operating institutions at home and abroad, holds controlling stakes in several listed companies such as Sinochem International, Sinochem Fertilizer, and Fangxing Real Estate, is the largest shareholder of Far East Horizon, and in June 2009 underwent an overall restructuring to establish China Sinochem Corporation.

Over the years, Sinochem Group has been promoting strategic transformation and management reform. According to Sinochem Group's official website, on October 10 this year, Sinochem Group established a deepening state-owned enterprise reform leadership group with President Cai Xiyou as the group leader, Vice Presidents Zhang Wei and Shi Dai as deputy leaders, and other company leaders as members. The deepening reform of state-owned enterprises in Sinochem Group will be carried out in two stages: before the end of 2015, the working group will communicate with relevant ministries and commissions to understand policy trends; from early 2016 to mid-year, it will form an overall plan (discussion draft) for deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises in Sinochem Group, and after relevant procedures, promote its implementation.

Sinochem Group is a larger company compared to COFCO. Whether the 58-year-old Ning Gaoning can bring his enthusiasm and experience to a new journey remains to be seen.

When bidding farewell to COFCO Group, Ning Gaoning also wrote a long poem "If".

Below is the full text of "If":

If...

If I could be young again, I would still come to COFCO. If I could choose again, I would still come to COFCO. If there is anything hard to part with in this world, it is COFCO. If there are people hard to part with, they are also at COFCO. If I dream tonight, it will surely be of COFCO. If there is a song that can make me cry in the future, it will surely be COFCO's anthem "Sunshine". If I gaze at the night sky in Beijing in the future, it will surely be because I see the lights of COFCO's office. If time could flow back, I would work even harder. If time cannot flow back, the eleven years at COFCO are worth every minute and every second, worth living and worth remembering. If there is a happy thing, it is that the sweat and laughter of brothers and sisters have given birth to a new COFCO. If there is a proud thing, today's COFCO is already very different. If there is a regret, the blueprint of COFCO has not yet been completed. If there is a guilty thing, my lack of cultivation, impatience, and self-righteousness have hurt my colleagues, and I sincerely ask for forgiveness! If there is an inadequate thing, my talent is insufficient, and I failed to walk with everyone to a more successful distance. If there is an expectation, I really want to see COFCO as a whole industry chain, global, competitive, and international large grain merchant. If you can work together, If you can cherish dreams, If you can bear hardships without complaint, If you can create brilliance, Then our hearts are still in one place. If there is a word that sounds pale but still needs to be said, it is thank you, COFCO! Thank you for these eleven years, so rich, beautiful, and yet as short as an instant! If I am a gentle breeze, I want to often return to COFCO. If I am a white cloud, I want to often watch over COFCO. But I know I cannot be a gentle breeze or a white cloud. If time flies without stopping, If I am old and frail, If my hair turns white, I still want to return to COFCO. Still want to gather with everyone, laughing and talking, passionate and high-spirited... How wonderful, just like when we were young. (Ning Gaoning's farewell to COFCO) January 5, 2015

-END-

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