Change in Cognis top management

Change in Cognis top management

Following the sale of speciality chemicals company Cognis to a consortium of investors, the management team is being reformed. Harald Wulff is handing over his position as CEO to Antonio Trius and will become chairman of the Supervisory Board.

The sale of Henkel's chemicals subsidiary Cognis to the investors consortium the Permira Funds, GS Capital Partners and Schroder Ventures Life Sciences Funds was successfully completed atthe end of last year. In the course of this transaction, the speciality chemicals company was deemed to have promising development potential. The leveraged buyout received very good ratings, for instance, from the agencies Standard & Poors and Moody's (Plates 10 and 11).

Plate 10 Dr. Antonius Trius, Chief Executive Officer of Cognis, January 2002

Plate 11 Dr. Harald Wulff, Chairman of the supervisory board of Cognis, January 2002

One person who has made a major contribution to this success is Harald Wulff, who holds a doctorate in chemistry. He early on formed a clear vision for the chemicals division of Henkel KGaA: In his view, the development potentials in the global market could only be properly exploited as an independent company with a clear profile. These plans were convincing, and in August 1999 Cognis was established as a subsidiary of Henkel KGaA. After 19 years with Henkel, latterly as executive vice president of its Chemical Products business, Harald took on the management of the young company.

With great determination and personal dedication, he and his five colleagues in the Management Board attacked the task of forging all of the diversified areas of chemical production at Henkel into one company with a clear-cut profile and a unique identity.

The brief was to establish Cognis as a strong competitor, optimally aligned to the demands of the marketplace, and with great innovative drive. The steady corporate growth in the past two years and the successful sale to investors now provide strong evidence of the progress made toward achieving this goal.

Future development will now be directed by his successor: Antonio Trius, who has been executive vice president, Care Chemicals, at Cognis and responsible for the North American region ever since the carve-out. Together with chief financial officer Joachim Sohngen and chief administration officer Helmut Heymann, his task will be to prepare the company for going public within the next four to five years.

Antonio, also with a doctorate in chemistry, who joined Henkel in 1982, is taking up the reins under the best of auspices. However, he is very much aware of the challenges facing him: "Despite all the positive forecasts, we must not forget that we still have a long way to go. Cognis will have to reorient itself to best exploit all its potentials.