Martina Merz, CEO of Thyssen-Krupp, in conversation
Picture: Stefan Finger
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Thyssen-Krupp sells the elevators, its most profitable division, to financial investors. A conversation with the boss Martina Merz about the struggle for survival of the group and the advantages of Swabian managers.
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Ms. Merz, you have just sold Thyssen-Krupp’s most profitable division, the elevator division. Why?
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Thyssen-Krupp has made several attempts to realign the company. On the one hand, this was an attempt to bring the steel into a joint venture …
… the EU competition authorities have prohibited the merger with the competitor Tata Steel.
I agree. The other idea was to split the company into two. In a company that mainly includes the volatile materials business …
… you mean the steel division, which depends on the world market price …
… and a second company in which the industrial goods businesses would have been located. That also failed. However, we needed financial resources to reduce our debts, service our pension obligations and, of course, above all to develop our business areas. Funds that we would not have earned in ongoing business – not even if the elevator division had remained in the company. We are now getting this much needed money.
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