The supervisory board of the Düsseldorf-based technology group Rheinmetall has extended the contract of executive board chairman Armin Papperger by a further five years to 31 December 2026. Mr Papperger has held this post since January 2013. Helmut P. Merch, the group’s CFO, has likewise been confirmed in office through to the end of 2022. Since 1 January 2017, the Rheinmetall AG executive board has also included Peter Sebastian Krause, responsible for human resources. In 2019 the supervisory board extended Mr Krause’s contract through to 31 December 2024.
By keeping its executive board unchanged, Rheinmetall is signalling continuity in a time of transformation, the company says in a statement. During the course of its recently launched strategic reorganisation into an integrated technology group, the intermediate holding company Automotive has been dissolved and a new leadership structure put in place. The executive board will continue to run directly the group’s five divisions – Weapon and Ammunition, Electronic Solutions, Vehicle Systems, Sensors and Actuators, and Materials and Trade – in order to assure faster implementation of decisions as well as the desired transfer of technology between all units. Coupled with a steady improvement in profitability, Rheinmetall will be focusing on areas of business with strong potential for sustained valued added. A buyer is being sought for the group’s pistons operations, which are no longer being run as a core business.
Jack Richardson
