By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Signaling that the transition to a new leadership at Chiquita Brands International Inc. is complete, Cyrus Freidheim said Monday he would retire as board chairman in May.

Fernando Aguirre, who came to Chiquita in January as president and chief executive officer, will assume the chairman's title. Freidheim, 68, also will leave the board of directors.

The move is not a surprise, because Freidheim said when Aguirre was hired that he would stay long enough to ensure a smooth transition.

"My task was really to put the company on a sound financial footing and get a new team in and then get out," Freidheim said in an interview Monday. "My success in doing that we'll know in two or three or four years."

He's confident in Aguirre's ability to refine his plans for Chiquita's growth.

"I've long held that when the CEO leaves that role, he or she ought to get off the board in a short period of time," he said.

Chiquita's stock closed down 50 cents to $20.28 in trading Monday.

Freidheim came to Chiquita from the international consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton in March 2002, a day after the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

His mark includes a move into fresh-cut fruit, the sale of unprofitable operations such as a set of Panamanian banana farms, and aggressive cost cutting both at Cincinnati headquarters and in the tropics.

Chiquita already had cut $700 million in debt from its balance sheet in bankruptcy when Freidheim arrived. He has set - and met - goals for reducing debt and concentrating more on core operations. For example, Freidheim sold Chiquita's vegetable canning unit in 2003 for more than $200 million in cash, stock and assumed debt.

That has brought applause from Wall Street. But Freidheim also clashed with investors frustrated by his unwillingness to give specific quarterly earnings guidance.

Chiquita said the restricted stock and stock options already granted to Freidheim will vest immediately on his retirement. It will record noncash expenses of these awards of $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2004.

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E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com