The Swede has been on the Lufthansa Executive Board since 2017.
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Frankfurt It is probably health that thwarted Ulrik Svensson’s plans. The finance chief of Lufthansa surprisingly resigned his position on Monday. The departure affects the largest airlines in Europe in terms of turnover at a very unfavorable time. Because of the corona virus, almost the entire fleet stands still.
Despite radical austerity measures – among other things, over 90,000 of the almost 140,000 employees are on short-time work – the money only flows away. Management negotiates with the federal government about state aid and even about state involvement. The group could use Svensson’s expertise well.
But now the supervisory board has to quickly find a replacement. But maybe chief controller Karl-Ludwig Kley already has an idea. Because it has been clear for some time that Svensson would leave in the foreseeable future. In November 2018, rumors emerged for the first time that the manager did not want to extend his contract, which runs until the end of 2019.
At the time, speculation was not out of thin air. Svensson actually wanted to go back to his Swedish homeland to take a somewhat more relaxed approach.
But supervisory board chief Kley persuaded the manager to extend a few years. There were good reasons for this. The business economist, born on June 27, 1961 in Varberg in Sweden, is considered a well-established financial expert.
Svensson is strategic
And Svensson is someone who prefers to stay in the background, doesn’t value public appearances. This often makes teamwork in the management committee easier. According to companions, he has the great ability to “concentrate on the most important things”.
At the same time, Svensson is very strategic. If you want to understand him, you must first of all look at a job: the one he had before he was appointed to the Lufthansa Executive Board in 2017.
The father of three children was the CEO of Melker Schörling in Sweden for ten years. A big financial investor is hiding behind the name, which is hardly known in Germany. Svensson not only brought the company public in 2006, he was also responsible for around 400,000 employees through the six investments.
His decision is a bitter loss for Lufthansa. But maybe Svensson has just noticed in the past few days that he should not be able to cope with his health in a crisis as powerful as the current one. The supervisory board will promptly advise and decide on a succession solution, it says at “Hansa”.
More: Anyone who manufactures protective masks or delivers cooking boxes is currently on top of the stock market. The situation is different in retail, industry and airlines.
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