Linde CFO to Step Down After Failed Praxair Merger
German industrial gases company Linde is set to undergo a major shakeup of its leadership after a blockbuster merger with U.S. rival Praxair collapsed this week.
Linde’s chief financial officer, Georg Denoke, will step down with immediate effect, replaced by Sven Schneider, the company announced in a statement Tuesday.
Mr. Denoke had been involved in a smoldering leadership dispute with Chief Executive Wolfgang Büchele at the top of the Munich-based firm, which insiders say may have impacted the merger talks. Mr. Denoke was said to be against the merger and had been accused by many within the company of disloyalty.
Sources said many members of the non-executive supervisory board, which has the power to hire and fire executives in Germany, viewed Mr. Denoke’s role skeptically and wanted him out immediately.
The $60-billion (€53-billion) merger between the world’s second- and third-largest industrial gases firms abruptly collapsed this week, ending Linde’s hopes of regaining the top spot in the industry. The two companies on Monday said the talks stumbled over “governance issues.”
Sources at Linde told Handelsblatt that Praxair had essentially sought to take executive control of the joint company. The role of Linde’s Munich headquarters may also have come into play. Sources said the joint company was to be based in Europe – though not in Germany – while Praxair had sought to run much of the company out of its current headquarters in Connecticut.