Germany’s Bayer has named a new chief executive and other key managers in a sweeping management shuffle. Bayer, which makes chemicals and pharmaceuticals, said Werner Wenning, 62, will step down as chief executive in September 2010 and be succeeded Marijn Dekkers, a 51-year-old Dutchman who is currently chief executive of U.S. laboratory-equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific, said the Wall Street Journal. Wenning’s contract expires next year, and some analysts said they had been expecting him to retire or step down. Meanwhile, Arthur Higgins, 52, head of Bayer’s health-care unit, will leave the company in the first half of 2010, as will chief financial officer Klaus Kühn, 58. In a statement, Bayer said Higgins was leaving for “personal reasons,” and that Kühn would take early retirement. Cornelia Thomas, a pharmaceutical analyst at WestLB said the pair may be leaving because they did not get the chief executive job. Bayer said Dekkers, before taking on the CEO job, will temporarily serve as Higgins’s replacement as head of Bayer healthcare. Werner Baumann, currently an executive in the health-care unit, will take over as finance chief when Kühn leaves. Meanwhile, Thermo Fisher said Marc Casper, currently chief operating officer, will succeed Dekkers as chief executive. Bayer, one of Europe’s last chemical-and-pharmaceutical conglomerates, has long been thought to be considering a breakup, according to the report. Gbola Amusa, a pharmaceutical analyst at UBS said the arrival of a new chief executive could mean that the company is ready for such a restructuring. Dekkers carried out a broad restructuring at Thermo Fisher Scientific, including a series of divestments and acquisitions that raised the company’s revenue nearly fivefold over a seven-year period, to $10.5 billion. Two years ago, he was elected to the board of biotech firm Biogen Idec. He is a dual citizen of the Netherlands and the U.S.
Bayer Announces Major Management Shuffle
Werner Wenning, 62, will step down as chief executive in September 2010 and be succeeded by Marijn Dekkers, a 51-year-old Dutchman who is currently chief executive of U.S. laboratory-equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific.
September 16, 2009
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