Manfred Wennemer

Manfred Wennemer (born September 19, 1947 in Ottmarsbocholt in Münsterland) was CEO of the automotive supplier Continental AG up to and including August 31, 2008 and has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hochtief AG since May 12, 2011 and a member of the Hochtief Board of Directors since October 6 Subsidiary Leighton Holdings . Since 2017 he has also been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Jost Werke .

Career

Wennemer studied mathematics at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster and started his professional career in 1974, initially as a project manager at Procter & Gamble .

After an MBA at INSEAD in France, he worked from 1978 as a project manager for the Arthur D. Little consultancy . From 1980 he worked in various functions for the Freudenberg Group before moving to the Continental Corporation in 1994 (via Benecke-Kaliko, which was acquired by Continental AG and integrated into its ContiTech division). After the planned sale of the ContiTech subsidiary was halted, he was appointed CEO of the group on September 11, 2001.

During his tenure as Chairman of the Executive Board of the Continental Corporation, he consistently oriented production towards cost considerations and, in addition to reducing administrative costs, pushed production to low-wage locations. The steep rise in the Continental share price since the beginning of 2003 was offset by the early termination of an agreement concluded with the trade union and works council on the preservation of jobs against unpaid overtime at the end of 2005 at the main plant in Hanover , which was accompanied by severe criticism . In 2005, the Hanover tire factory was considered the most modern production facility and operated at a profit.

In many locations of Continental AG in Germany, the 42 or 43 hour week without wage compensation was introduced. Wennemer justified these radical measures with the ever stronger and tougher global competition. At the same time, an EBIT of 10 to 12% was required, and parts of the company were sold to interested parties. Further measures to increase profit are the reduction of performance bonuses from 2009 from 11.75 to an average of 10% as well as the restriction of paid overtime.

After a sharp decline in the Continental share price in 2008 as a result of the takeover of VDO Automotive from Siemens , the German Schaeffler Group had secured a larger part of the shares unnoticed and, with the help of a bank consortium, was aiming for a takeover through a corresponding offer the shareholders in August 2008 was manifested. An investor agreement to take over the management of the Schaeffler Group was announced on August 20, 2008. The takeover attempt was sharply criticized by Wennemer, which contradicted the chairman of the Continental Group's supervisory board, Hubertus von Grünberg . On August 31, 2008, Manfred Wennemer was released from his position as Chairman of the Executive Board of Continental AG at his own request .

In June 2009 the federal government appointed Wennemer to the advisory board of the Opel trust company , which was dissolved in November 2009 .

Wennemer was elected to succeed Jürgen Dormann as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss industrial group Sulzer AG on March 27, 2013, and surprisingly resigned at the end of 2013.

Quote

"We have to get away from this nonsense as quickly as possible and realize that 35 to 37 hours a week are not normal working hours, but 43 to 45 hours"

- Wennemer in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on November 2, 2003

literature

• Manfred Wennemer in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Melanie Wassink: Conti boss in the state parliament under attack In: Hamburger Abendblatt dated December 8, 2005

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hochtief press release, see http://www.hochtief.de/hochtief/pdfservice/8810
2. ↑ DJ Hochtief chief controller Wennemer appointed to Leighton board in börsennews.de .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ JOST Werke AG Annual Report 2017 , at www.jost-world.com , accessed on March 24, 2018
4. ↑ Takeover battle ended: Conti agrees to join Schaeffler In: Die Presse of August 21, 2008
5. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Sulzer with Manfred Wennemer as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors and an increased dividend of CHF 3.20 per share. ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sulzer media release of March 27, 2013 
7. ^ Sulzer President Wennemer resigns. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from December 23, 2013