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Berlin, Dusseldorf Heinrich Hiesinger, CEO of Thyssen-Krupp, had to wait longer than expected for the new redemptresses. Only on Saturday morning at 6:30, the fax of his emissaries from Amsterdam arrived. This is only when the contract was signed with Tata Steel for the merger of the European steel mill. The lawyers of both parties had scrutinized the contract again and again, before releasing it for signature.
A few hours earlier, on Friday night, the council had approved the agreement with Tata Steel. What followed was a short night for Thyssen-Krupp's head. He was physically tired, but not inside, Hiesinger said Saturday, hours after signing the contract, during a conference call with investors. And he should be relieved too.
For more than two years, Hiesinger and CFO Guido Kerkhoff had negotiated with the Indian group Tata the merger of their steel daughters. The negotiations lasted exceptionally long. This was mainly due to external factors such as the vote of the British to leave the EU, but also to a change of boss in the Tata group.
No one doubted the merger. Consolidated, the new joint venture can reduce its costs by 500 million euros per year and make better use of sites in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. As the number two behind the market leader Arcelor-Mittal, the new Thyssen-Krupp Tata Steel company is expected to be more able to dampen the fluctuations in the steel market. "The joint venture will ensure a competitive position in the European steel industry in the long term," said Hiesinger.
In the end, employee representatives on the Supervisory Board were convinced that mergers were generally skeptical because of the expected job cuts. However, thanks to many job guarantees and external expertise, they finally agreed.
The chairman of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe's board of directors, Tekin Nasikkol, a member of the board of directors, said Saturday that the agreement was "a great success". At the beginning, nothing has been settled for the employees. Together we have secured important concessions, concluded a collective agreement and voted together on this point. He was happy that there was clarity and that employees now know "where is the trip going," he told Handelsblatt
. – The supervisory board also resisted the project. At least two members of the 20-member panel did not vote for the merger with Tata Steel Europe at Friday's meeting, the Handelsblatt learned from the environment of the Supervisory Board. Jens Tischendorf, the representative of the investment firm Cevian, sits on the control committee of the industrial group.
Cevian is after the foundation Krupp, the second largest shareholder of Thyssen-Krupp. Tischendorf's resistance is therefore likely to take root in the long-standing conflict with the leadership. The main shareholder demands a swift and drastic restructuring of the Ruhr Group. From Cevian's point of view, sectors such as profitable elevator companies must be divested and the holding company dissolved.
Cevian founder Lars Förberg said Sunday morning that Thyssen-Krupp had failed with the conglomerate's strategy. "Now it is necessary to systematically examine what structure and ownership structure is most appropriate for each division," said the investor. The precondition is the industrial logic, "not taboos, historical developments, emotions or personal ambitions".
A radical division of the industrial group that includes elevators, factory building and trading of materials in addition to steel. Although he wants to solve Thyssen Krupp of the cyclical activity of steel, but as a conglomerate. He wishes to inform the Supervisory Board of the exact projects of development of the traditional society during the coming week.
At another meeting, the committee must approve its future strategy. It is less of a radical change, but rather a moderate adjustment of the existing strategy, as has been said in the Group's circles. An evolution, no revolution to predict
Additional austerity program
The goal should be to focus on the existing technological areas, namely the elevators, the engineering facilities and component manufacturing. By transferring pension costs of four billion euros, the Group's equity doubles to around 15%. With the improved financial reach for these areas should also be possible again acquisitions, he said.
In return, Thyssen-Krupp will probably separate from his business and seek a solution for the shipyard. With the construction of ships and submarines, the group is currently suffering losses, likely to increase in the future, according to a manager: "For shipyards, we must find a solution." [19659003] The Hiesinger Board of Directors Submit plans for another austerity program. The volume is expected to be in the range of three million figures. "With the delivery of the steel division, the administrative needs are reduced, many jobs become superfluous," says the manager.
Quiet perhaps this plan Cevian: The investor had qualified the holding company with its 4000 employees oversized. On Sunday, investor Förberg reiterated his criticism: "Group divisions can only survive and succeed if they are thin and well positioned and can grow without the excessive costs and headquarters bureaucracy."
Despite the current discussion The agreement with Tata on the new strategy is a great success for the Thyssen-Krupp Executive Board. Since entering the company in 2011, the former director of Siemens Hiesinger has progressively progressed in the separation of steel, selling the stainless steel division first and then the factories at the Brazil and the United States. Technology Group achieved: The balance sheet is released from the steel business, prone to fluctuations, which in the good years, made high profits, tearing out the calculation holes. The new management of Thyssen-Krupp Tata Steel is now facing this problem.
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