(Bloomberg) -- The chief executive officer of Thyssenkrupp AG’s steel unit will leave the company along with several supervisory board members and other top managers following a dispute over the beleaguered division’s future.
Bernhard Osburg, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, will depart the company, as will Sigmar Gabriel, head of the supervisory board. Gabriel said Thursday that the parent company undermined Osburg in a “serious breach of trust.” The steel unit’s chief technology officer, Dennis Grimm, will take over as interim CEO of the unit.
The moves come after a weeks-long tussle between executives and worker representatives over efforts to lower steel-making capacity and restructure the business. The discussions have been part of a long-pursued sale to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who has already acquired 20% of the company and is in talks to acquire a further 30% of the business.
Thyssenkrupp will continue to “push forward with the realignment with all necessary speed, in order to position Thyssenkrupp Steel in the best way for the future,” the parent company’s executive board said in a statement. The goal remains to create an independent, high-performing and profitable company, the board said.
The steel unit has dragged down the former industrial stalwart’s earnings for years as European steel makers suffered from weak demand and high investment requirements to lower emissions. Rival Tata Steel Ltd is cutting 2,800 jobs and closing furnaces in UK while Germany’s Kloeckner & Co SE plans to slash 10% of jobs in its European distribution.
Thyssenkrupp already plans to reduce steel-making capacity by about a fifth, alongside substantial cuts of the division’s 26,000 jobs, the company said in April.
In a meeting earlier this month, the supervisory board failed to reach an agreement on broader restructuring plans. Labor members — who make up half of the positions in the board — opposed proposals including more capacity reductions.
Following that meeting, Gabriel said in a statement, the parent company chairman attempted to undermine the steel unit’s executive board, damaging its ability to act.
The board has commissioned an independent expert report on future financing needs for the unit, which is also saddled with significant pension liabilities.
To lower steel-making capacity and restructure the business, the unit is also seeking to sell a 50% stake in steel-tube maker Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH, which employs roughly 3,000 people.
--With assistance from Naomi Kresge.
(Updates with interim CEO in the second paragraph, executive board comment in the fourth paragraph.)
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