Tokyo - Klaus Hilpert and the deugro Group announced the retirement of Executive Vice President Klaus Hilpert, effective November 13, 2017. During the 10th anniversary celebrations of deugro Japan, with over 200 valued clients and suppliers, nearly the entire team around Mr. Hilpert gathered to say their goodbyes and to reminisce about their experiences at deugro. The event was an incredible success, and we would like to thank all our guests who made it a very special night. The event started with the opening of the Sake barrel, and throughout the night we enjoyed traditional songs performed by world‐famous violinist Ikuko Kawai. Over the course of the last 10 years, deugro has managed to become one of the top international project forwarders in the Japanese market, serving many major EPC clients and their worldwide logistics needs. We feel proud of what we have accomplished in Japan and look forward to our next chapter in this important market. During the event, our former Executive Vice President, Klaus Hilpert, formally announced his retirement in a moving speech that recounted his first visit and experiences in Japan from 30 years ago until today. Mr. Hilpert started at deugro in 2009 as Managing Director / Executive Vice President. deugro would like to thank Mr. Hilpert for his excellent work over the past nine years. He significantly developed the strategy of the deugro Group in a future‐orientated way. The deugro Group wishes him and his family all the best for the future. “I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Klaus for his invaluable input, hard work and dedication to deugro. Klaus was in many ways the architect of the plans we are now implementing within the deugro Group, along with our diversification strategy. In his capacity as Executive Vice President, Klaus established and led some of the most successful regions, country organizations and deugro Support Functions, which contributed significantly to the overall growth in recent years. We will miss his insight, empathy and creativity in our collaboration with him over the past years,” said Thomas C. Press, owner and CEO of the deugro Group.