Dahnke took up the position with the manufacturer of prostheses with the words that the role at Ottobock was a stroke of luck for her.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Kathrin Dahnke has just worked her way into the finance department at Ottobock – and has already left. Arne Kreitz succeeds her, as the largest owner and company heir Hans Georg Näder announced on Wednesday. The 42-year-old is 19 years younger than Dahnke and comes from within. Näder expects him to provide impetus for further earnings growth.
The senior states that it is a planned change that will only be carried out earlier than planned. The step is still unusual. Dahnke, who was only appointed in September last year, took up the position at the prosthesis manufacturer with the words that the role at Ottobock was a stroke of luck for her.
CEO Philipp Schulte-Noelle was pleased to say that someone would come with her to implement the future strategy. According to the information, her predecessor had to go for health reasons.
At the end of last week, Dahnke was allowed to announce the balance sheet for the past year and explained the growth course for the current year, then it was over. The management around the head of the board of directors, Näder, now withdrew her confidence and exchanged Dahnke for Kreitz. What was intended to be a lasting connection ends with a bang after seven and a half months.
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With the chaotic change of personnel, Ottobock is feeding doubts about the success of its planned IPO. That should have happened years ago. Initially, however, Näder had postponed the IPO and brought the financial investor EQT into the group of shareholders in mid-2017. With the outbreak of the pandemic, the step was postponed again.
Ottobock missed this spring as the announced date for going public, and the last internal date of “autumn 2022” is unlikely to be met.
The financial investor EQT is oriented towards the long term, but the pressure on society is growing. With each IPO window that elapses, the potential return from a sale that EQT managers must explain to their own investors shrinks.
The profit is allocated to each year that EQT invests in Ottobock. In addition, the originally hoped-for company valuation of up to seven billion euros is unlikely to be maintained. Measured against competitors, this is four, maximum five billion euros.
More: Despite the crises, Ottobock is sticking to its stock market plans