Viterra Inc. has announced the opening of a new office in Geneva, Switzerland, and the appointment of Christian Joerg as Vice-President and Managing Director, Europe.

Based in Geneva, Joerg will develop and implement the company's growth platform and global arbitrage logistics in the region. This includes expansion of Viterra's grain marketing and origination capabilities in major grain-exporting countries in Europe and the pursuit of new value added businesses.

Joerg comes to Viterra with experiences in commodity trading, finance and risk management. Most recently he served as Executive Director for UBS AG in Geneva and was responsible for establishing credit and providing working capital facilities to multinational organisations and refining companies.

From 1999 to 2005, Joerg was the Head of Collateral Management for SGS Societe Generale de Surveillance SA. In that role, he was providing security structures and risk mitigation tools which allowed the banks to finance their agricultural, mineral and petroleum commodity flows in 45 countries.

Prior to his time at SGS, Joerg worked for nine years at Andre & Cie. SA and Garnac Grain Co. Inc. (Andre Group), a major grain trading company, with four of those years spent in the US.

Joerg's appointment is effective immediately. He will report to Don Chapman, Senior Vice-President, International Grain.

Viterra Inc. is Canada's leading agribusiness, with extensive operations and distribution capabilities across Western Canada, and with operations in the US, Japan and Singapore. The company is diversified into sales and services of crop inputs and equipment, grain handling and marketing, livestock feed, agri-food processing and financial products.