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Kasper Rorsted: Deka does not want the Adidas boss on the Siemens supervisory board

2021-02-02T06:23:04.226Z


Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted, as well as Airbus technical director Grazia Vittadini, should move to the Siemens supervisory board. But there is resistance to Rorsted: Shareholder Deka Investments does not want the research-based Dane on the supervisory board - for simple reasons.


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Kasper Rorsted: Will the brisk Adidas boss make it into the Siemens supervisory board?

Photo: Daniel Karmann / dpa

2020 was for Adidas boss

Kasper Rorsted

(58) a used year.

The sporting goods manufacturer has now replaced Kfw's state credit line, which Adidas was the first Dax group to request in April in the midst of the Corona crisis.

Rorsted also hurriedly cashed in his announcement that he would temporarily stop paying rent due to Corona after a public shit storm - Adidas is now making splendid money again, rents are being paid on time, and the market value has also recovered.

And yet the relentless return optimizer Rorsted has caused uncertainty and a culture war in the group with his gruff manner: Top executives are looking for a long run, and Rorsted has to ensure increasing confidence in his own ranks in addition to increasing profit margins.

An appointment to the supervisory board of the industrial giant Siemens would suit Rorsted with this project.

The prestigious job would not only strengthen Rorsted's influence in Corporate Germany - also in the Siemens Group itself, where Joe Kaeser

is passing

the management on to the new CEO

Roland Busch

(56)

this week

, one relies on the experience of the designated Supervisory Board Rorsted.

The Adidas boss is a preferred candidate from supervisory board chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe, who wants to place the Dane on the supervisory board as the successor to Bayer veteran Werner Wenning.

Airbus technical director

Grazia Vittadini is

planned to be the

successor to the outgoing, no less prominent

Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller

(61)

.

Rorsted for Wenning on the supervisory board of Germany's industrial icon.

A win-win situation for Siemens as well as for the newcomer?

Rorsted on the board of directors?

Deka sees "overboarding"

Siemens shareholder Deka Investments sees it differently.

The fund company wants to vote against the election of Rorsted to the supervisory board at the Siemens general meeting on Wednesday.

However, this has nothing to do with the damaged image of the Adidas boss in his own ranks, but simply with Rorsted's already far-reaching tasks: Rorsted is not only the boss at Adidas, but also a member of the board of directors of the Swiss food multinational Nestlé.

Deka Investments sees "overboarding" here - another position on the Siemens Supervisory Board is one too many from the shareholder's point of view.

Mandates for supervisory board chiefs would have to be clearly limited so that each member would be able to "fully comply with their supervisory duties".

There is no doubt about Rorsted's skills as a manager, but a position as an inspector at Siemens would be one job too many alongside the supervisory job at Nestlé.

Nonetheless, Rorsted has good chances for the supervisory board position - the majority of the shareholders do not yet seem to see a problem in the Dane's accumulation of offices.

Rorsted has a lot to do in-house to get all the top executives behind him - but in the opinion of the majority of Siemens shareholders he is not yet overburdened.

Dispute over shareholders' right to ask questions at the general meeting

Meanwhile, there is a risk of a bigger dispute over the question of whether the shareholders involved at the Siemens virtual general meeting on Wednesday must be given the right to submit questions during the AGM.

Not only Deka Investments and the Siemens employee shareholders have spoken out in favor of allowing such a right to ask questions right into the Annual General Meeting, in order to allow comments and opinions from shareholders.

The influential proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis also support the demand.

This could rewrite the rules for virtual general meetings.

Because so far the special regulations for the Corona crisis apply, according to which questions have to be submitted in writing two days in advance.

This means that shareholders cannot react immediately to statements made by the management board or the supervisory board during the event.

According to Glass Lewis, this is "overly restrictive".

In addition to Deka, the voting rights advisors and the employee shareholders, the investment company Union Investment also supports this demand for a public dialogue: If a majority follows this amendment, the Siemens management will have to be prepared for some critical questions in the Rorsted case as well.

la

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-02-02

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