Thyssenkrupp chairman quits, causing leadership turmoil

Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A ThyssenKrupp worker by an automobile body frame at a plant in Duisburg, Germany, on December 12, 2014.

The chairman of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp has resigned, following the company’s chief executive under pressure from activist shareholders demanding a radical restructuring of the embattled industrial conglomerate.

Ulrich Lehner’s departure on Monday deepens a leadership vacuum at the submarines-to-elevators group, with Guido Kerkhoff having barely settled in as acting CEO after Heinrich Hiesinger quit 10 days ago.

Lehner told the executive board that he would resign with effect from July 31 and that he would withdraw from the supervisory board, Thyssenkrupp said in a statement, adding that a successor would be selected soon.

The 72-year-old executive said he no longer enjoyed sufficient support to develop the company in the interest of its customers, employees and shareholders.

“I take this step consciously to enable a fundamental discussion with our shareholders on the future of Thyssenkrupp,” Lehner said in a statement.

“A break-up of the company and the related loss of many jobs is not an option.”

Hiesinger had championed a European merger of Thyssenkrupp’s steel interests with those of India’s Tata Steel, sealed on June 30, as a key plank of his strategy to revive the company’s business fortunes and share price.

He quit after failing to win unanimous shareholder backing for the Tata deal, which was two years in the making and when finally signed proved to be less advantageous for Thyssenkrupp than some investors had hoped.

The leadership turmoil at Thyssenkrupp, which has a history stretching back over two centuries, has opened up more fundamental questions about a company that was long run not only for profit, but also with the aims of upholding the legacy of its founding family and preserving jobs for its 158,000 workers.

“I respect Lehner’s decision, but I regret it,” said Wilhelm Segerath, head of the Thyssenkrupp works council and a senior official in the IG Metall industrial trade union.

Segerath called on the main shareholders to work together to develop Thyssenkrupp.

“There can be no break-up of the business,” he told Reuters.