DVN (Holdings) announces appointment of Erik Prince as chairman

HONG KONG: The Board of Directors of DVN announced the appointment of Erik D. Prince, the founder and former CEO of Blackwater, as an executive director and the new chairman of DVN, effective January 10, 2014.

Outgoing DVN chairman, Johnson Ko, will remain as deputy chairman. Luo Ning, a director of CITIC Group Corp., a substantial shareholder of DVN, has also been appointed deputy chairman.

In November of 2013, DVN acquired Frontier Services Ltd (FSL), an aviation and logistics services company operating in East Africa, from Prince with the goal of building FSL into the premier logistics, aviation, and risk management provider in Africa.

According to Ko, speaking after the DVN board decision to appoint Prince, "Since DVN's acquisition of FSL, we have seen high demand by Chinese as well as Western firms operating in Africa for the type of logistics and aviation, ground, and maritime transportation services FSL offers and specializes in.

"Over the past five years, China has become the principal foreign investor in sub-Saharan Africa and is expected to contribute at least an additional one trillion US dollars in capital to economic development of the continent during the coming decade, hence, the demand for "secure logistics" in Africa can only increase and offers superb business prospects."