Fergal Leamy will depart from his position as CEO of Coillte at the end of June this year, it has been announced.

It is understood he will be taking up a new role in the private sector.

In a statement, Leamy said that "the transformation and growth of Coillte has been driven by the motivation, commitment and dedication of our people and I want to thank the team for their hard work and support".

Coillte has now achieved its strategic objective of achieving a 5% cash yield on its €1.4bn asset base

Leamy noted Coillte's performance in 2018, when earnings rose from €85m to €115m.

"We also achieved a successful sale of our wind assets for €136m which represented a five times return on our investment. Coillte has now achieved its strategic objective of achieving a 5% cash yield on its €1.4bn asset base. The company is in a strong position and has an excellent team in place to lead it into the future," he said.

The Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said that Leamy’s tenure has been one of huge success for Coillte as reflected in the turnaround in its commercial performance since his arrival as CEO four years ago.

Priority

"The priority now will be to appoint a successor who can lead Coillte through its next phase of growth and arrangements for the process to select this person will be announced in due course," Minister Creed said.

"Leamy has transformed Coillte during his tenure. He will be a huge loss. I wish him well in the next rung in his career path. I look forward to working with Gerry Britchfield who will take over from Mr Leamy in April.”

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