Linde AG (LIN) said Wolfgang Buechele will become chief executive of the German industrial-gas supplier, taking the former private equity executive to a company where he was once one of its most important clients.
Buechele, 54, will start at Linde on May 1, replacing retiring Wolfgang Reitzle, the Munich-based company said. In the two years since leaving Linde customer Borsodchem Zrt of Hungary, the German national has built his reputation at Helsinki-based water-treatment chemical makerKemira Oyj.
Buechele, who held executive roles at Permira, Blackstone and BASF SE (BAS), is joining Linde as it battles Air Liquide SA (AI) for the top spot in the industry supplying gases such as oxygen to welders and hospitals. Reitzle, 64, turned Linde from an equipment company to a specialist in the field, trebling its share price in the decade he held the job.
“It is very hard to follow Reitzle,” said Stuttgart-based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg analyst Ulle Worner, who recommends buying Linde shares. “He’s made them into a focused gas company, taken them away from being a diversified industrial player. They’re now a world leader.” Reitzle sold under-performing assets and acquired larger industrial gas company BOC Group Plc in 2006. Germany’s benchmark DAX index has less than doubled during his tenure. Read more: United Technologies Corp. (UTX)
Buechele, 54, will start at Linde on May 1, replacing retiring Wolfgang Reitzle, the Munich-based company said. In the two years since leaving Linde customer Borsodchem Zrt of Hungary, the German national has built his reputation at Helsinki-based water-treatment chemical makerKemira Oyj.
Buechele, who held executive roles at Permira, Blackstone and BASF SE (BAS), is joining Linde as it battles Air Liquide SA (AI) for the top spot in the industry supplying gases such as oxygen to welders and hospitals. Reitzle, 64, turned Linde from an equipment company to a specialist in the field, trebling its share price in the decade he held the job.
“It is very hard to follow Reitzle,” said Stuttgart-based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg analyst Ulle Worner, who recommends buying Linde shares. “He’s made them into a focused gas company, taken them away from being a diversified industrial player. They’re now a world leader.” Reitzle sold under-performing assets and acquired larger industrial gas company BOC Group Plc in 2006. Germany’s benchmark DAX index has less than doubled during his tenure. Read more: United Technologies Corp. (UTX)
No comments:
Post a Comment