Werner Seifert (Manager)

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Werner G. Seifert (born July 4, 1949 in Winterthur , Switzerland ) was CEO of Deutsche Börse AG from 1993 to 2005 .

Before that, he worked as a partner at the management consultancy McKinsey and as a board member at the Swiss insurance group Swiss Re .

Live and act

During his time as CEO at Deutsche Börse AG, the electronic trading system Xetra was introduced. Under his strategic direction, the previously separate functions such as securities administration, futures trading , cash market and IT services for the securities area were merged to form the Deutsche Börse Group, which is now one of the most important providers of integrated securities trading services .

In 2000, Seifert entered into negotiations with the London Stock Exchange , London Stock Exchange (LSE) about a merger to achieve among equals. These plans failed due to opposition from London brokers and LSE shareholders. At the end of 2004 Seifert tried again for the London Stock Exchange. This time he submitted a takeover offer for the London Stock Exchange (LSE). This plan failed due to the resistance of numerous shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG, who, among other things, criticized the planned purchase price as excessive.

As a result, a heated discussion ensued between the management and shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG, partly via the media , of which the English hedge fund The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) stood out.

Seifert lost his office in May 2005 under pressure from its own shareholders. Later, the chairman of the supervisory board, Rolf-E. Breuer and other members of the Supervisory Board back.

This was followed by a public discussion about the behavior of large financial investors (especially so-called hedge funds). The SPD chairman Franz Müntefering used the animal metaphor swarms of locusts for such investors . The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) started an investigation into the processes because of the suspicion of coordinated behavior (so-called " acting in concert ") of numerous investment funds; closed the proceedings in the summer of 2005.

Seifert's failure attracted particular attention in national and international financial circles, as for the first time a large number of minority shareholders exercised direct influence on the corporate strategy and the top personnel policy of a company listed in the DAX .

According to press reports, Seifert left Germany with a severance payment of almost € 10 million, moved to the Irish Atlantic coast and became a pianist in the jazz group Jazz X Change . Later Seifert u. a. Chairman of AWAS and member of an advisory committee of REDO Water Systems GmbH.

Web links

literature

  • Werner G. Seifert; Hans J. Voth: Invasion of the locusts . Econ-Verlag 2006. ISBN 3430183235
  • Werner G. Seifert; Markus Habbel; Frank Mattern: Performance is not fate . Campus 2002. ISBN 3593369303
  • Werner G. Seifert; Ann-Kristin Achleitner; Frank Mattern: European Capital Markets . Palgrave MacMillan 2000. ISBN 0312233825
  • Frank Mattern; Werner G. Seifert; Clara C. Streit; Hans-Joachim Voth: share, work, boom . Campus 1997. ISBN 3593358999

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CD publication Well, You Needn't with August-Wilhelm Scheer , Thomas Siffling , Chris Perschke, Thomas Heidepriem and Michael Ehret , 2005. See Jazz X Change
personal data
SURNAME Seifert, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seifert, Werner G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss manager and CEO of Deutsche Börse AG
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Winterthur , Switzerland