Further resignations from the Uniper Management Board
Chief Operating Officer Eckhardt Rümmler and Chief Commercial Officer Keith Martin today informed the Chairman of Uniper's Supervisory Board that they want to terminate their board mandates and respective employment contracts at the end of November 30, 2019.
Dr. Bernhard Reutersberg, Chairman of the Uniper Supervisory Board, comments: ”I deeply regret the decisions of Eckhardt Rümmler and Keith Martin. Nevertheless, I can understand them in view of the unmistakably expressed mistrust of our major shareholder Fortum towards the entire Uniper Management Board. In addition, postponing the vote of discharge yet another year effectively puts undue pressure on them to behave in certain ways. On this basis, it is simply impossible for Eckhardt Rümmler and Keith Martin to continue.”
Last week, at Fortum's request, the Uniper Annual General Meeting postponed the discharge of the Management Board for the 2017 and 2018 financial years. This was contrary to the explicit recommendation of the Uniper Supervisory Board.
Eckhardt Rümmler says: ”I did not make this decision easy for myself. With much confidence and a clear view to the future, Keith Martin and I reinitiated the cooperation talks with Fortum after the resignation of Klaus Schäfer and Christopher Delbrück almost four months ago and made good progress. I therefore regret all the more that the trust placed in me verbally several times was not reflected in Fortum's voting behavior at the Annual General Meeting. I have always stressed that I can only do my job well if the main shareholder expresses its trust in me. This is particularly not the case if unspecified allegations against me are used as justification for the non-discharge. I hope the newly appointed members of the Management Board will manage to establish a constructive working relationship with Fortum. I am very grateful that I have been able to build up the great Uniper together with 12,000 highly motivated employees over the past years.”
Keith Martin explains: ”I have reflected intensively on the events of the past week. I came to the conclusion that it takes more than the absolute will to achieve a good solution for Fortum and Uniper on a factual level. My positive attitude has been undermined by the recent public statements made by Fortum. It is therefore only logical that my decision should allow a positive development of the discussions with Fortum. Today I am saddened by this necessary step. At the same time, I am very grateful that, together with many fantastic colleagues, I was able to expand the Uniper business and thus contribute to the success of the entire company.”
Bernhard Reutersberg: ”I would also like to thank Eckhardt Rümmler and Keith Martin on behalf of the Supervisory Board. From the very beginning, both members of Uniper's Management Board have put their heart and soul into successfully building up and establishing the business activities of Uniper, thus creating a solid basis for the strategic positioning of Uniper. In particular, I appreciate the high level of their commitment with regard to the new start with Fortum that we were striving for and where the two of them had already achieved a lot so far. Therefore, I personally can well understand that they are now drawing the consequences in view of the provocative and contradictory behavior of our major shareholder especially before and during the annual general meeting last week. It was really a lost opportunity. Instead of reaching out their hand for reconciliation, Fortum has once again put Uniper in a difficult situation. I call on Fortum to finally start discussing constructively a way forward which is feasible for both companies.”
About Uniper
Uniper is a leading international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries and around 12,000 employees globally. Its business is the secure provision of energy and related services. Its main activities include power generation in Europe and Russia as well as global energy trading. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.
