4 million which Schae ler will contribute

The peace o the bra e, inally It is at least the objecti e o the extensi e reorganization o the Continental sta , decided yesterday by the Super isory Board. The Schae ler amily, who took last year control o the OEM o Hano er, at the end o a hostile o re o the most sa age, inally obtained the departure o Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chairman o the Board or less than a year. Is appointed in his place a man o the clan Schae ler, Elmar Degenhart, currently head o the automoti e di ision o Ba aria and ormer group "Conti". Karl-Thomas Neumann will recei e a se erance pay o 7.4 million, which Schae ler will contribute.

In return or this dismissal, Rol Koer er, President o the Council also proche o the Schae ler, said ready to gi e up his post as soon as the inancial Director in the Executi e Board will be pro ided - externally. A successor to Rol Koer er, who will howe er continue to sit on the Super isory Board may be appointed at the next meeting o the super isory body, end o September. It must also come rom the outside.

Three executi es o Continental rise in addition to the Executi e Board: Nikolai Setzer, head o the tires or automoti e, Helmut Matschi, in charge o the Interior o the ehicle and Ral Cramer, head o the di ision chassis & sa ety.

The reorganization aims to clean up the situation, while Karl-Thomas Neumann objected quite iolently to its Ba arian shareholders in recent months. It is remettre Continental in running order, in a challenging market. The message o appeasement o yesterday addressed there ore both sta , worried about a crisis without precedent in the automoti e industry, to the creditor banks, also alarmed - two groups show a cumulati e debt o EUR 22 billion-, and customers. Automakers began, lately, to show their impatience and threatened to pre er other OEMs. "Time o trouble did not o the property to the company", said in a euphemism the representati e o the Super isory Board o IG BCE Union, Werner Bischo .

Gain the con idence o employees

But all the problems are not resol ed, ar away. Including the question o the increase in capital de ended with orce by Karl-Thomas Neumann, to gi e a little air, and initially rejected by the Schae ler clan, whose total participation could thus be reduced rom 90 to 66. The Super isory Board, yesterday, has maintained its appro al in principle, but nothing has iltered on the terms and conditions or the olume o the transaction. According to the "Handelsblatt", the Schae ler is would be committed to Gerhard Schröder to not block the transaction - the ormer Chancellor was designated guarantor o the guarantees granted by Schae ler at the time o the takeo er o Continental. But we must irst ind a inancial director capable o carrying the operation, which could reach 1.5 billion. The rank urt stock market also showed no enthusiasm in the announcement o the appointments, yesterday a ternoon. The Continental action assigned 1.5, to EUR 23.64. End o July, the Schae ler clan had ailed to get rid o Karl-Thomas Neumann, stumbling on the opposition representati es o employees. Elmar Degenhart will ha e the irst mission to win their con idence.