Hellmuth Buddenberg

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Hellmuth Buddenberg (born May 5, 1924 in Bünde ; † March 5, 2003 there ) was a German manager . From 1976 to 1988 he was CEO of Deutsche BP AG .

Live and act

After graduating from high school and then doing military service, Buddenberg began studying business administration at the University of Kiel and later in Hamburg with Karl Schiller . In 1949 he joined OLEX German gasoline and petroleum company as a cost auditor , the legal predecessor of what would later become Deutsche BP. In 1953 he was given power of attorney and 1956 procuration . His further career led him in 1959 as Head of Accounting and Deputy Member of the Board of Management in 1965 to Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 1972. In 1976, Buddenberg was appointed CEO and successor to Albert Hallmann . When he took office, the company was in an existential financial crisis. After the first oil crisis in the 1970s, there was a gap of DM 276 million in the business coffers and BP had the worst financial year in its history. The oil business alone had resulted in a loss of DM 351 million. In addition, a third of the share capital was lost. When he took office, he began to strategically realign the company and reorganize it. He introduced profit centers and by opening up new business areas in the areas of petrochemicals, plastics processing and animal feed production, he succeeded in reducing the dependency on the oil business and in a few years leading the company back to an almost balanced result. By purchasing the VEBA voting rights in the Gelsenberg vote pool, in 1978 he wanted BP to have a dominant influence on Ruhrgas AG's lucrative natural gas business . However, due to the special voting rights, the Ruhrgas stake remained a pure financial investment. As a member and chairman of the Ruhrgas AG supervisory board, he supported Klaus Liesen's strategic direction of the gas business in the 1980s .

After the second oil crisis in 1979, he organized a symposium in Berlin together with the Saudi Arabian oil minister, Sheikh Yamani , which contributed to a better understanding between oil-producing countries and consumer countries. From 1975 to 1989 he was also a member of the board of the Mineral Oil Industry Association , from 1987 to 1989 as its chairman. During this time he shaped the development of the German mineral oil industry significantly. After leaving the Board of Management of BP, he moved to the Supervisory Board as Deputy Chairman in 1989 and worked there until mid-1994.

Buddenberg died on March 5, 2003 at the age of 78 after a short illness in his hometown of Bünde.

Others

In addition to his entrepreneurial activity, he was also involved in other fields. From 1989 to the beginning of 2002 he was Chairman of the Presidium of the German Transport Forum . He was awarded the Friedrich List Prize for his services to improve traffic conditions in Germany and Europe . During the same period he was also President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, for which he was honored by the British Ambassador to Germany with the Order of the British Empire .

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The big leap of the "lame shop". Article in Zeit Online on June 23, 1978 , accessed March 18, 2011

swell

personal data
SURNAME Buddenberg, Hellmuth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Frets
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 2003
Place of death Frets