ZCZC
BCN-11
GERMANY-INDUSTRY-MANUFACTURING-MERGER
Main Thyssenkrupp shareholder opposes group break-up
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, July 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – German industrial giant
Thyssenkrupp’s biggest shareholder on Friday strongly opposed calls by
activist investors to break up the venerable institution, as it battles
through a leadership crisis.
“There will be no break-up of the company on my watch,” Ursula Gather told
German news weekly Der Spiegel.
“Job security” and “the principles of the social market economy” took
precedence over a desire by some to cash in, she said.
Gather heads the Krupp Foundation, Thyssenkrupp’s largest and most
influential shareholder with a 21-percent stake in the sprawling group that
makes everything from elevators and submarines to car components.
The 207-year-old firm has been in turmoil ever since two bosses quit after
clashing with investors pushing for an aggressive restructuring, including
the spin-off of the most profitable units.
Chief executive Heinrich Hiesinger quit in early July, shortly after
completing a landmark deal merging Thyssenkrupp’s steel activities with
India’s Tata.
Supervisory board chief Ulrich Lehner followed him out the door soon
after, warning of the “loss of many jobs” if shareholders like Swedish
investment firm Cevian and the US hedge fund Elliott got their way.
Union leaders and the German government have also spoken out against
attempts to break up Thyssenkrupp, which employs some 159,000 people
worldwide and reported revenues of 41.5 billion euros ($48.4 billion) in its
2016-2017 financial year.
“The government is counting on Thyssenkrupp remaining an integrated
industrial group,” an economy ministry spokeswoman said this month, urging
all sides to work “constructively” towards a solution.
BSS/AFP/HR/0950