People

For the third time, Aurubis has fired its management board’s chairperson, this time Peter Willbrandt. Bernd Drouven will take over the helm of the copper working company for a maximum of twelve months. The state of conflict that arose between Supervisory Board chairman Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann and the then chairman of the management board, later member of the Supervisory Board that led to the latter’s resignation in 2011, seems not to be an issue. Drouven’s responsibilities on the Supervisory Board will be shouldered by reserve board member Joachim Faubel. On September 19, Faubel’s predecessor announced that personal reasons prevented him from seeking renewal of his contract. Aurubis’s announcement that in agreement with the Supervisory Board, 52 year-old Willbrandt was no longer with the company as from October 31, was datelined 3 November.

After the resignation of former management board chairperson Roland Koch during the summer and now the announced resignation of CFO Joachim Müller as soon as a replacement can be found , the management board of Bilfinger, now reduced to five members, is on the point of losing Joachim Enenkel. The Supervisory Board is bracing itself against Enenkel’s days at the MDax-listed company being counted when the former Metro chief comes on board. Enenkel’s sole responsibility at present is the building sector, most of which is planned to be sold off.

On October 31, Deutsche Post Supervisory Board summoned Melanie Kreis to join its management board. The Bonn-born future head of Human Resources and Labour Director is not an outsider like her unfortunate predecessor Angela Titzrath but has risen through the ranks. The 43 year-old mother of two has been with Deutsche Post for ten years and in 2015 will be faced with the thorny issue of emoluments. Melanie Kreis has also a solid experience in mergers and acquisitions.

Now that Fortress, the financial investor, is finally no longer involved with GAGFAH, the residential real-estate group will begin the new year with three new management board members. The newcomers are Hendrik Jellema (formerly of the management board of Berlin real estate construction company, Gewobag), Daniel Just (hitherto chair of Bayerische Versorgungskammer board of management) and Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer (lately, up till 2011, CEO and chair of the board of management of Austrian real estate company OMV). The three will take the places left vacant by Wesley R. Edens and Randal A. Nardone, legacies of Fortress’s major incursion that seated them as its representatives of the former major shareholder, and by Jürgen Allerkamp who is resigning by year’s end to become chair of the board of management of Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB).

Olaf Berlien has been appointed to replace Wolfang Dehen in OSRAM Licht with effect from January 2015. During a meeting on November 5, the Supervisory Board of the lighting technology company, presently in the throes of reconstruction, summoned the present CEO of M + W, a semiconductor producing SME in Stuttgart, as new chair of the management board. Dehen will quit his post in OSRAM on January 1 2015 on the best of terms with the company.

On November 3, the Supervisory Board of Pfeiffer Vakuum relieved Nathalie Benedikt of her duties. On November 4, the TecDax listed company announced from its headquarters in Asslar, Hessen, that the dismissal of the former CFO had nothing to do with the current intermediate report. Her responsibilities will be shouldered by Managing Director Manfred Bender until a replacement can be appointed.

It would appear that the Siemen’s Supervisory Board is in the process of adding to its number in the person of BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer . He is expected to stand as candidate at the next general shareholders’ meeting on January 27, 2015. In that case, another shareholder delegate would have to stand down since the mandate of the board, presently chaired by Gerhard Cromme does not expire until 2018. In the meantime, the Siemens family is embarking on a generation renewal. The representative of the family, Gerd von Brandenstein (72) wishes to retire for reasons of age. Great-grandson of Werner von Siemens’s brother, Carl Heinrich, von Brandenstein is handing his seat over to Nathalie von Siemens.

Now that some 90 percent of SkyDeutschland belongs to Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB, the composition of the Supervisory Board of the German pay-tv network also changes. A communiqué issued on November 19 announced that consequent to the unification of his European pay tv channels, the media mogul is replacing two Supervisory Board members. BSkyB CEO, Jeremy Darroch and his fellow management board member Andrew Griffith (CFO) will join the Supervisory Board. Darroch has been elected its chairman. SkyDeutschland had already been informed by Chase Carey and Jan Koeppen that they would no longer be running for election to the Supervisory Board and so their standing as Board members terminated on November 19, 2014.

As had been imagined, Jens Tischendorf is set to join the Thyssen Krupp Supervisory Board in representation of Cevian. The Swedish investor’s top man in Germany appears in a list published by the industrial group, indicating him as a candidate to represent the shareholders. Confirmation will emerge from the vote at the shareholders’ general meeting on January 30, 2015, but if Tischendorf is elected, Cevian, currently second largest shareholder in Thyssen Krupp with 15.08%, will further increase its weight in the Supervisory Board. Ingrid Hengster, presently on the management board of KfW is also expected to join the Supervisory Board. Board members Christian Streff of the French Safran group and JürgenThumann former president of BDI, the association of German industry, will step down.

Alno: perpetual readjusting

Alno AG has extended its contract with CEO Max Müller for a further two years. Müller, who joined the company in 2011, will continue to lead the kitchen manufacturer until December 2016, with an eye in particular on the new positioning of the company, now General Standard-listed. Müller is also in charge of restructuring and acquisitions. He also looks after auditing, legal affairs and company liaison as well as the group’s international business. In addition to his position on Alno’s board of management, Müller is chair of the Supervisory Boards of Comco Holding AG and Starlet Investment AG, both of which are Swiss investment companies.

Delticom: New CEO post

The board of management of Delticom is to be enlarged. As from January 2015, Thierry Delesalle will head consumer business in Western Europe for the SDax-listed company, in automobile tyres and complete wheels for automobiles, as well as company marketing. Delesalle joined Delticom in 2011 as Purchasing Manager and Head of Country Management for online automobile consumer business in East Europe.

Pfeiffer vacuum: Instant Separation

Pfeiffer Vacuum AG has split from CFO Nathalie Benedikt with immediate effect. The TecDax listed company cited internal disagreement. The disappointing quarterly results are not said to be the root of the problem. Finance, EDP and Human Resources will be attended to ad interim by Pfeiffer CEO Manfred Bender. Benedikt had been CFO of the vacuum pump producer since January 2013 and she had headed Controlling and Finance since 2004.