Investors are pushing for the future composition of the supervisory board to be clarified as quickly as possible.
(Photo: Reuters)
The situation is far from ideal. The contract of Lufthansa chief controller Karl-Ludwig Kley expires next year, and it is completely unclear how things will continue at the top of the supervisory board. One candidate, ex-BMW boss Harald Krüger, obviously doesn’t want to, the other, former Airbus CEO Tom Enders, offends the employees.
In his distress, Kley considers going on again himself. An experienced manager who has dealt intensively with good corporate governance is willing to exceed an age limit that applied at Lufthansa until last year. The whole thing is extremely unfortunate.
And it is not the first time that the appointment to the top position on the supervisory board has caused unrest. In 2013, the former Lufthansa boss Wolfgang Mayrhuber announced shortly before the decisive general meeting that he would not run as a candidate due to pressure from investors. And then just in time for the shareholders’ meeting to show up.
It is all the more important now to avoid comparable chaos and to ensure clarity in good time. It is at least as important to be more open to external expertise when making appointments to the supervisory body. The committees of “Hansa” are still stewing in their own juice.
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The fact that major shareholder Klaus-Michael Kühne not only wants to send his confidant Karl Gernandt to the supervisory body, but also insists on a seat on the audit committee, is exactly right. Gernandt’s reputation precedes him as an extremely solid manager who has one thing in mind above all: the success of Kühne’s holdings.
>> Read about this: Trial of strength at Lufthansa – major shareholder Kühne wants more than just a seat on the supervisory board
Gernandt should therefore ask the right questions, critically question decisions made by the board, for example, and have them explain them in detail. Is the strategy with the many airlines the right one? Will all the synergies that exist be leveraged? These are precisely the questions Lufthansa needs to continue to be successful.
With Krüger, who chairs the audit committee, there is an inspector who likes to put his finger in the right wounds. Lufthansa can take even more of that.
More: Eurowings threatens pilots with reducing flight operations – parent company Lufthansa expects billions in profit