Nachrichten aus der Corporate Governance Szene
California-based electric car startup Lucid Motors has nominated former Mercedes CFO Frank Lindenberg to its “board of directors.” According to a report in Manager Magazine, shareholders of a SPAC called Churchill Capital IV are expected to elect the 57-year-old to the board on July 22. SPAC stands for special purpose acquisition company. These are publicly traded shell companies with no business operations that acquire a startup within two years of …
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Dear readers of GermanBoardNews, in response to my proposal to make supervisory boards more responsible and at the same time strengthen their position vis-à-vis shareholders, I often hear the following: Whoever holds shares is an owner. And whoever is an owner must necessarily have corresponding rights. More independence for supervisory boards is therefore against the system. Does that sound logical? No. Anyone who argues in such a formal legalistic way …
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Dear readers of GermanBoardNews, this AGM season it is noticeable that numerous companies are shortening the terms of office for supervisory boards from five to four years (also for our Supervisory Board Member of the Week). As justification, the companies point with astonishing unanimity to recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code (DCGK) and “expectations” of investors. So this can’t be a bad thing. Or can it? I would like …
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The rapid recovery in the Far East has saved the bottom line for many corporate CEOs. But the growing dependence entails considerable risks. Why this is so – and what supervisory boards need to do now. BASF had a “strong final spurt” in 2020, cheered CEO Martin Brudermüller at the beginning of March. This was due in particular to the company’s business in China, where it recorded “double-digit volume growth” …
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The danger of unholy alliances at the expense of companies is growing. We therefore need new guidelines for professional investors – and stronger supervisory boards. As you know, we are sceptical about the growing influence of investors on corporate governance. Not all readers are happy about this. We were recently told that we were “lumping all investors together”. So let’s be clear: We are aware that there are a number …
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Dear reader of GermanBoardNews, theodor Weimer is currently one of the most sought-after decision-makers. His appointment to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank has met with a positive response far beyond the financial sector. Dissenting voices were raised only because there were fears in Deutsche Börse’s environment that he could replace Paul Achleitner as Chairman of the Supervisory Board as early as 2022 – and therefore leave as CEO. That …
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In the corona crisis, the stock markets have moved far away from reality – especially in the USA. This underlines the fact that prices and indices are poor indicators for assessing economies and companies. Can we change this? If the future is traded on the stock exchange, the Corona pandemic will soon be over. During the week, the major indices almost returned to pre-crisis levels – even in the …
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Daimler Supervisory Board Chairman Manfred Bischoff has found a well-known successor for the outgoing Paul Achleitner: At the Annual Meeting, shareholders are to elect Telekom CEO Tim Höttges to the supervisory body. For the 57-year-old, this would be “the first relevant position on a German supervisory board,” the Handelsblatt commented. Tim Höttges is “a proven expert for digitalization in telecommunications”, Bischoff praised according to a statement by the company. He …
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We look to the future. Today I would like to take you on a little time travel to the year 2029. Imagine you are reading – as usual – your GermanBoardNews on Friday morning. One article refers to the “GCGS”, the Global Corporate Governance Standard, which was introduced five years ago, in 2024, as a result of a concerted action by the OECD and UN, inspired by the concept of …
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Pelham Capital has asserted itself: Christoph Brand has surprisingly moved into the supervisory board of the portal operator Scout24 (Autoscout24, Immobilienscout24) at the suggestion of the hedge fund. The Swiss media manager had received around 54 percent of the votes, Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Holger Albrecht announced following the Annual General Meeting last Friday. The majority of shareholders thus opposed the company’s management, which had been nominated by Mathias Hedlund, …
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More and more companies are fleeing the stock market. According to the Handelsblatt, the number of regularly listed companies has fallen from 761 to 464 in the last ten years. And the trend is accelerating; Axel Springer and Osram recently announced a withdrawal – with similar arguments: The CEOs Olaf Berlien and Mathias Döpfner needed time for the digital transformation and could not use shareholders who would go on the …
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The shareholders of Tübingen-based CureVac AG have elected two new Supervisory Board members. This was announced by the biotech company at the beginning of the week. As a result, the Supervisory Board has expanded from six to eight members – in line with the motto the more the better. “We are very pleased to welcome Tim Wright and Craig Tooman as new board members,” said Ingmar Hoerr, chairman and co-founder …
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