DGermany's largest agricultural and building materials trading company Baywa is in a deep leadership crisis. According to information from the FAZ, trust between CEO Marcus Pöllinger and the supervisory board has been shaken. This Friday, Pöllinger's predecessor and current chief controller, Klaus Josef Lutz, invited the committee to an extraordinary meeting. Lutz confirmed the appointment to the FAZ. He didn't comment further.
According to reports, the supervisory board has initiated investigations against Pöllinger for alleged compliance violations. In addition to a possible disregard for the rules of good corporate governance, Pöllinger is also said to have fallen out with CFO Andreas Helber, according to people close to the listed conglomerate. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the events.
However, CEO Pöllinger said through the spokeswoman: “I am on good terms with Mr. Helber.” Baywa – short for Bavarian goods brokerage for agricultural cooperatives – trades in grain, fruit, fertilizer, building materials and heating oil and is one of the largest companies in the business renewable energies. A good 24,000 employees in 40 countries work for Baywa, sales recently reached 27 billion euros. The main shareholder is Bayerische Raiffeisen-Beteiligungs-AG, which holds a third of the shares.
At the top I have building material
Marcus Pöllinger took over from Lutz just a few months ago. The 44-year-old business economist and lawyer is well connected within the company. He has been a member of the Baywa board since November 2018. During this time, Pöllinger was responsible for the important segments of agriculture, technology, construction and energy. Pöllinger was recommended as the successor to Lutz, who led Baywa for 15 years, when he restructured the building materials segment.
However, he recently acted unhappily at the top of the board, according to those close to the group. This can be seen in the share price, which has fallen by 35 percent since Pöllinger took office in April last year. However, the suspected compliance violations are likely to be more serious.
#Leadership #crisis #agricultural #giant #Baywa
