The manager was meanwhile considered a possible successor to CEO Brudermüller.
(Photo: BASF SE)
Frankfurt, Dusseldorf Two days before the presentation of the business figures for the past year, the chemical group BASF reports an unusually short-term change on the board: Saori Dubourg will surprisingly leave the six-member board at the end of February, the company announced on Wednesday. Stephan Kothrade, who previously headed the Intermediates division, will take over her position.
Dubourg is leaving BASF on the best of terms, the company said in a brief statement. The Supervisory Board thanks her for her successful work and wishes her all the best and continued success for her professional and private future.
The board mandate of the 51-year-old would have actually run until 2025. With technology chief Melanie Maas-Brunner, there is now only one woman on the BASF board.
New BASF board member Stephan Kothrade is considered a China connoisseur
Dubourg, who has a degree in business administration, was on the committee responsible for plastics precursors, performance materials and petrochemicals, as well as for the Europe region. Previously, she also headed the agrochemicals division of BASF.
Dubourg was seen internally as a critic of CEO Martin Brudermüller’s China strategy. According to company circles, in the summer of 2022 she was the only member of the board to vote against the next expansion stage for the new BASF plant in China, for which investments of around ten billion euros are planned.
The group is building its second large Verbund site in the country in southern China. The first plants for technical plastics are already in operation. The huge integrated site should be fully operational by 2030. Critics fear that the mega-investment will make BASF too dependent on China and underestimate the risks there.
The group counters that China, as the world’s largest chemical market, will offer the strongest growth rates in the coming years, while Europe is weak. One cannot and does not want to do without this.
The BASF manager has gained a lot of experience in China.
(Photo: BASF)
With the 55-year-old Kothrade, another supporter of the China strategy is likely to move into the board. From 2012 to 2021, the doctor of chemistry held various management positions for BASF in the country, including as head of the large chemical plant in Nanjing, which BASF operates together with local partner YPC.
From 2020 to 2021, as President and Chairman Greater China, he managed the Group’s China activities before taking over management of the Intermediates division. These are refined chemicals from which medicines, plastics, fibers or crop protection products are manufactured.
Saori Dubourg was considered a potential new boss at BASF and Bayer
His predecessor Saori Dubourg has meanwhile also been traded as a potential successor to CEO Brudermüller, whose contract runs until the 2024 Annual General Meeting. But these hopes for Dubourg have apparently been dashed in the past year.
Now the successor to Brudermüller should only be decided between two current board members. Internally, the top candidate is Markus Kamieth, who is responsible for the entire Asian business including Greater China. Company experts also see opportunities for Melanie Maas-Brunner, who is responsible for the largest BASF Verbund site in Ludwigshafen as well as for research and technology.
It is considered certain that the new BASF CEO, who will take office in May 2024, will come from within the company. Because no training period is necessary, the group is in no hurry to make a decision. In business circles, the announcement is not expected until the second half of the year.
The change in leadership at BASF would be different than at competitor Bayer. As of June 1st, the Leverkusen-based company will have a new, external CEO, US pharmaceutical expert Bill Anderson, who will succeed Werner Baumann – the replacement will be a good eleven months earlier than originally planned. The Bayer Supervisory Board decided in early February.
>> Read about this: A biotech expert for Bayer: That’s how Bill Anderson ticks
In the selection process in autumn 2022, BASF manager Saori Dubourg was also among the candidates for the top of the Executive Board. According to company sources, Bayer has held discussions with her. Dubourg scored with her experience as a long-standing member of the BASF Board of Management responsible for the crop protection and seeds business, which plays a dominant role at Bayer alongside pharmaceuticals.
However, Dubourg did not make it into the final round of the selection process. The Supervisory Board focused early on Anderson, who works for the Swiss Roche Group. He was able to demonstrate the decisive know-how in biotechnology and sufficient experience in large transformation projects.
More: BASF facing severe cuts – chemical group also shuts down plants.