- New legal form emphasizes Group’s international identity
- New Supervisory Board and Executive Board of TRATON SE appointed
- Andreas Renschler: “The business form gives us the opportunity to even more closely integrate the regional companies within the TRATON GROUP and position ourselves even better in the global arena with a European corporate identity.”
Munich, December 20, 2018 – TRATON has formally undertaken the transformation into a European company. After its entry into the commercial register, which is expected to take place in a few weeks, the company will operate under the name “TRATON SE” – thus reflecting the Group’s international identity. TRATON expects the company’s new legal form to yield positive effects: “The SE business form gives us the opportunity to even more closely integrate the regional companies within the TRATON GROUP and position ourselves even better in the global arena with a European corporate identity,” said Renschler.
The Annual Shareholders Meeting of TRATON AG had approved the transformation of the legal form on December 14, 2018 and also appointed the members of the Supervisory Board in this connection. In today’s constituent meeting, the Supervisory Board selected Hans Dieter Pötsch as its Chairman and Athanasios Stimoniaris as its Deputy Chairman. Half of the Supervisory Board’s 20 members are employee representatives from the European sites, and employees from these locations will also be represented on the future SE works council.
The nine additional members from shareholders side are: Dr. Manfred Döss (Volkswagen AG), Gunnar Kilian (Volkswagen AG), Dr. Albert Kirchmann, Dr. Julia Kuhn-Piëch, Nina Macpherson, Dr. Dr. Christian Porsche, Dr. Wolf-Michael Schmid, Hiltrud Werner (Volkswagen AG), Frank Witter (Volkswagen AG).
The following nine additional representatives of the employee side were appointed to the Supervisory Board of the future TRATON SE: Torsten Bechstädt (Volkswagen AG), Mari Carlquist (Scania), Jürgen Kerner (IG Metall), Lisa Lorentzon (Scania), Bo Luthin (IF Metall), Michael Lyngsie (Scania), Bernd Osterloh (Volkswagen AG), Karina Schnur (MAN), Steffen Zieger (MAN).
“The SE offers employees from throughout Europe the possibility of codetermination. We also see this as an opportunity to further intensify cooperation between the companies and unions in the interests of both the employees and the Group within the commercial vehicles market,” says Athanasios Stimoniaris, Chairman of the future Group Works Council of TRATON SE. The transformation to an SE will not lead to any changes in the existing structures and codetermination principle at the level of the production facilities and companies within the TRATON GROUP.
Furthermore, Andreas Renschler (Chairman), Christian Schulz (Finance and Strategy), Joachim Drees (MAN), Henrik Henriksson (Scania), Roberto Cortes (Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus), Dr. Carsten Intra (Human Resources and IT) and Christian Levin (Procurement, Development and Strategic Product Planning) were named as members of the Executive Board of TRATON SE.
As an SE, TRATON will continue to be headquartered in Munich. Some of the functions will remain anchored in Södertälje. As the transformation of TRATON AG into an SE will result in neither the company’s dissolution nor the establishment of a new legal entity, the company’s legal and economic identity will remain intact.
Hans Dieter Pötsch
Pötsch was born in Traun, Austria, on March 28, 1951. He studied industrial engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, from 1973 to 1979. He worked in Controlling at BMW AG in Munich, Germany, from 1979, and subsequently took up the position of Head of Controlling at BMW AG in 1984, serving in this function until 1987. He became General Manager for Finance and Administration at Trumpf GmbH & Co. KG from 1987 to 1991. He served as Chairman of the Board of Management of Traub AG from 1991 to 1995, and was Chairman of the Board of Management at Dürr AG from 1995 to 2002. Pötsch served as Group Board of Management member with responsibility for Finance & Controlling at Volkswagen AG from 2003 to 2015. He has served as Board member for Finance at Porsche Automobil Holding SE since 2009. Since 2015 he has served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG. Among his other mandates, Hans Dieter Pötsch is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in Gütersloh, Germany.
Athanasios Stimoniaris
Stimoniaris was born in Munich, Germany, on April 9, 1971. He held various positions in logistics at MAN Truck & Bus AG in Munich, Germany, from 1998 to 2002. He has been a member of the Works Council of MAN Truck & Bus AG since 2002, serving as Deputy Chairman of the Works Council from 2007 to 2015, and as Deputy Chairman of the General Works Council of MAN Truck & Bus AG from 2014/2015, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Group Works Council of MAN SE. Stimoniaris has been Chairman of the Works Council and General Works Council of MAN Truck & Bus AG since 2015. He is also Chairman of the Group Works Council of MAN SE and a member of the Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG. Furthermore, he serves as a member of the European and Global Works Councils of Volkswagen AG and since July 22, 2018 as Chairman of the Group Works Council of TRATON AG. Athanasios Stimoniarias is Deputy Leader of the shop stewards' committee of IG Metall at MAN Truck & Bus AG in Munich and a member of the IG Metall local organization in Munich.
Christian Levin
Christian Levin was born in 1967. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business & Administration and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In 1994, Christian Levin started his career as a management trainee with Scania AB. He held a number of management positions at Scania, including Director of Product Marketing as well as Managing Director of Italscania. In 2010, Christian Levin was named as Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial Operations of Scania AB. In 2016, he was appointed as Executive Vice President and Head of Sales & Marketing at Scania AB.
Contact:
Julia Kroeber-Riel
Head of Group Communications & Governmental Affairs
TRATON AG
Dachauer Str. 641
80995 München
Tel.: +49 152 58870900
julia.kroeber-riel@traton.com
Jörn Roggenbuck
Business Media Relations
TRATON AG
Dachauer Str. 641
80995 München
Tel.: +49 172 626 9875
joern.roggenbuck@traton.com
About TRATON:
TRATON AG, formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer worldwide with its brands MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus, and RIO. In 2017, TRATON GROUP’s brands sold around 205,000 vehicles in total. Its offering comprises light-duty commercial vehicles, trucks, and buses, which are produced at 31 sites in 17 countries. The Company had a workforce of around 81,000 worldwide across its commercial vehicle brands as of December 31, 2017. The Group seeks to transform the transportation system through its products, its services, and as a partner for its customers.