LafargeHolcim chairman stands down

Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of the LafargeHolcim board of directors, will not stand for re-election at the company’s May 2016 annual general meeting, and Beat Hess is being proposed as the new chairman.

LafargeHolcim was formed last year after a merger of the two companies to create the largest construction materials producer in the world.

The board said it regretted Reitzle’s decision while acknowledging his wish to pursue other business activities, in particular the chairmanship of the Linde supervisory board.

The company said that Reitzle had been instrumental in the successful merger. Formerly with Holcim, he became co-chairman with Lafarge’s Bruno Lafont.

Paul Desmarais, chairman of the LafargeHolcim nomination and compensation committee, said, “Wolfgang Reitzle’s contribution to bringing the two groups together, and to creating the new leader in the building materials industry, has been invaluable.”

Reitzle said, “I am satisfied that LafargeHolcim is now fully on track with realising the benefits of the combined businesses. With its committed people and leading position in markets around the globe, LafargeHolcim is well placed to reach its targets”.

The LafargeHolcim board has decided to propose to its shareholders the election of Beat Hess as its new chairman.

A Swiss national, Hess is currently vice chairman of the board, a member of the strategy and sustainable development committee, and a member of the finance and audit committee.

He was elected to the board of directors of the then Holcim in 2010. From 1977 to 2003, he was legal counsel and later general counsel of the ABB Group. From 2004 until the end of 2010, he was legal director and a member of the executive committee of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, London and The Hague. He is also a member of the board of Directors of Nestlé and of Sonova Holding.