People

Although holding only 2.6 percent of GSW Immobilien, PGGM managed to force Bernd Kottmann and Eckart John von Freyend to retire. CEO Kottmann was released with immediate effect; his contract would be terminated by mutual agreement on 15 July, said the Berlin apartment proprietor. Supervisory Board chair von Freyend would step down “at his own request” on 31 July, it went on.

Kontron has indicated that it has brought in Michael Väth . The new sales and marketing director took over the position of Thomas Sparrvik, who supported him until his departure in late June. Väth was until recently General Manager EMEA and Head of Global Business Innovation at Hitachi Data Systems. In mid-April the unprofitable small-computer manufacturer announced that Jürgen Kaiser-Gerwens had also relinquished his post in late June.

Professor Karl W. Lauterbach has according to Rhön-Klinikum announced his immediate resignation from the Supervisory Board. Peer Steinbrück (SPD) had earlier called the long-standing Supervisory Board member into his shadow cabinet. Eugen Münch thanked Lauterbach for his many years of dedicated work, which was always constructive and enriching for the body in the substantive discussions, and wished him well for his political goals.

Appointed to the Global Managing Board at SAP only at the end of May, Luka Mucic currently has excellent prospects of becoming Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the software company after the scheduled departure of Werner Brandt at the end of June 2014. An internal solution was emerging, said Hasso Plattner at the Annual General Meeting of the Dax Group in Mannheim on 4 June, referring explicitly to the most recent personnel changes.

Balda: New head of finance and ongoing feud over supervisory board

The SDax listed plastics specialist Balda has strengthened its finance management. Since June, Stefan Holtkamp has been head of controlling for the company and reports directly to the board. Holtkamp, who has a degree in business administration, is at the same time CFO of the Balda Medical Group. Previously he was head of group accounting and controlling at Technotrans AG.

There is still no resolution to the dispute about the reconstitution of the Balda AG supervisory board. The major shareholder Elector has been given the green light by the Bad Oeynhausen district court to call an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting. The higher regional court in Hamm rejected Balda’s appeal against this, although previously Elector has been unsuccessful before precisely this court.

Elector, the group’s major shareholder, is trying to force a change in the control body. With the shareholders’ meeting it aims to separate the three-member supervisory board from Balda and thus gain more influence over the body. Since the shareholders’ meeting in July is not held at the company’s headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia but in Berlin, even with a minimal presence Elector would be able to achieve its goal with its nearly 30 percent share of equity capital. Behind Elector is Thomas van Aubel, who himself wishes to join the supervisory board.

Marseille-Kliniken: Groundhog Day

After the CFO of Marseille-Kliniken AG, Michael Thanheiser, resigned his office in the middle of June, board member Dieter Wopen took over this responsibility additionally at the end of June. Since November 2012 Wopen has been the board member responsible for outpatient care and the expansion of the nursing business.

According to the clinic operator, Thanheiser is leaving for health reasons. But insiders say that the pressure was too great. Since 2007 the company has chewed up seven board members.

Meanwhile, the new CFO will have enough on his hands. In July the company plans to switch from Prime Standard to the less transparent Entry Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and it has already had a recent run-in with shareholder protection associations.

IVG Immobilien: Changing places

The Prime-Standard listed company IVG Immobilien AG has appointed Guido Piñol to its board as Chief Operating Officer from October 2013. Piñol, a graduate in economics and real estate economics, already took up his position as general agent of the company from July and will now also take over responsibility for the Funds and Asset Management segments. Piñol has been responsible for the reorientation of the asset portfolio in the Investment Division since 2010 and was appointed to its management board in 2011.

Meanwhile, his predecessor as COO, Christian Kühni, transferred to the management of subsidiary IVG Institutional Funds in July.