Volkswagen's finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch is set to become its next chairman, putting Europe's biggest carmaker on course for calmer waters after rival factions including ousted patriarch Ferdinand Piech united to back him. The company has been looking for a permanent successor to Piech, who was turfed out in April after clashing with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn over strategy but still wields influence through his family holding.
One day after proposing to extend the CEO's contract by two years until the end of 2018, the supervisory board's executive and nomination committees proposed to elect Poetsch, 64, as chairman.
Volkswagen's 51 percent owner Porsche Automobil Holding SE said Poetsch had the unequivocal support of its supervisory board - which includes Piech. Winterkorn also supported the move to elevate Poetsch, according to a source familiar with the company's thinking.
"This is good news," said Arndt Ellinghorst of research firm Evercore ISI, citing Poetsch's clear understanding of VW's financial problems. "Poetsch has been advocating an increased focus on consolidating VW's business post an era of M&A." VW's plans to appoint Poetsch, who has been the German group's finance chief since 2003, to the helm of its 20-member board were reported earlier by Reuters.
Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen chose an internal candidate who understands the complexities of the relationship between labour unions, investors, major shareholder Lower Saxony and the Porsche-Piech clan. Appointing an external chairman would have caused more unrest than stability, according to the source familiar with the company's thinking.
"Everybody at VW believes firmly that the current problems can be overcome on our own," the source said. Poetsch will first have to be elected to the supervisory board at an extraordinary shareholder meeting in November, which will also have to approve the appointment to the board of Piech's niece, Louise Kiesling.
Huber said the supervisory board would decide on a successor for Poetsch as CFO without delay.
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