HAMBURG, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Dierk Overheu will leave his position as CEO Of Dutch grain trader Nidera at the end of February, a Nidera spokesman said on Thursday.

The takeover of Nidera by Chinese trading house COFCO Group CNCOF.UL will be completed on Feb. 28 and Overheu will leave the company as a result of the integration process, the spokesman said.

COFCO has embarked on an expansion into international grain trading, having invested over $3 billion to buy Noble Group's NOBG.SI agribusiness and now Nidera, giving it assets in some of the world's top grain and vegetable oil producing regions.

Overheu became CEO of Nidera in June 2016. He is a veteran of the grain trading industry with experience including many years in senior positions at German grain trading house Alfred C. Toepfer, now integrated into U.S. agribusiness group Archer Daniels Midland Co. ADM.N .

As the full takeover of Nidera by COFCO will be completed on Feb. 28, Overheu's departure is "a logical step" in the integration process of the two companies, the Nidera spokesman said.

COFCO International CEO Johnny Chi will lead the merged companies, he said.

Asked whether Nidera will continue to operate under its own name, he said this was a question now being examined as part of the integration process.

Nidera in January hired veteran former Toepfer trader Wolfgang Stiehler as global head of grains and oilseeds and former Toepfer executive Ulrich Litterscheid as financial projects director.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan and Valerie Parent; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter) ((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 40 419 03 4275; Reuters Messaging: michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))