According to information from the F.A.Z., the former BASF boss Martin Brudermüller is to become the new chairman of the supervisory board of the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. Brudermüller's term as BASF CEO ends next year, as does that of the current Mercedes chief supervisor Bernd Pischetsrieder. A Mercedes spokesman did not want to comment on request.
Bernd Freytag
Economic correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar, based in Mainz.
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Gustav Theile
Business correspondent in Stuttgart.
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Pischetsrieder announced on Wednesday at the group's annual general meeting that the proposal for his successor would be made public in a timely manner. Previously, the former BMW and VW boss wanted to discuss the personnel with the remaining supervisory board members. It is an active member of the supervisory board, said the 75-year-old manager, who has been a member of the Mercedes supervisory board since 2014 and has been its boss for a good 2 years. Brudermüller has been a member of the board since 2021.
His contract as BASF CEO ends in the spring of 2024, so the transition could be almost seamless. The BASF Supervisory Board had extended Brudermüller's appointment by one year so that he would not leave at the same time as CFO Hans-Ulrich Engel and that two experienced executives would be missing in the midst of the crisis. Whether the treaty was "only" extended by one year is a matter of differing observers' opinions. Allegedly, Brudermüller would have liked to do longer. He has not yet commented on the question of whether he will take over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board as usual at BASF after his departure and the prescribed two-year "cooling-off period".
Brudermüller does not shy away from conflicts
The son of a nuclear physicist, he was born in Stuttgart and grew up in Karlsruhe, where he studied chemistry. After a research stay at Berkeley, he spent his entire professional life at BASF. He is married for the second time and father of twins twice. He has been a member of the BASF Board of Executive Directors since 2006 and has chaired it since 2018.
In the meantime, Brudermüller has worked for BASF in Hong Kong for almost ten years and is therefore very familiar with China, by far the most important single market for Mercedes. The CEO of the world's largest chemical company is convinced that the Chinese will overtake the Americans. Because they are hungrier and faster.
This is one of the reasons why he initiated the largest investment in BASF's history, in China, in the Guangdong industrial region. There, the company is building a huge new plant network for up to ten billion dollars.
The brawny man, who turns 62 on Friday, does not shy away from conflict. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he loudly warned of a gas embargo and dramatic consequences for the German economy. Even today, he still defends his warnings, even if things didn't turn out so badly in the end and the chemical industry reduced its dependence on – Russian – gas faster than many thought possible. His loud appearance gave the companies valuable time for the changeover, he says today.
He was the first DAX board member to join the Economic Advisory Council of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag and turned the game around. Under his aegis, BASF has initiated significant conversions to climate-neutral production, but then politicians must also supply cheap green electricity as promised.