Investor cautious

Rosenbauer Supervisory Board without Pierer and Mateschitz

Mark Mateschitz, two companies of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich and Stefan Pierer have held a majority stake in Rosenbauer since March 5.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Horst Einöder, KTM/E. Tschann, AFP/Kerstin Joensson)

Since March 5, the Robau consortium founded by Stefan Pierer, Mark Mateschitz and two companies of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich has held a majority stake in Rosenbauer. Now, however, the new owner of the firefighting equipment manufacturer has surprised everyone with the invitation to the Annual General Meeting. It was announced that neither Mateschitz nor Pierer would be joining the Supervisory Board.

For months, the Robau consortium had made no secret of who would be joining Rosenbauer's Supervisory Board following the capital increase and subsequent majority takeover. In addition to Gernot Hofer, head of Invest Unternehmensbeteiligungs AG, which belongs to Raiffeisen, and Fritz Roithner from Pierer Industrie AG, Mark Mateschitz and Stefan Pierer were always mentioned.

Extraordinary General Meeting on April 1
Now that the majority takeover has been finalized for a few days, the plans have apparently changed once again. When Rosenbauer issued an invitation to the Extraordinary General Meeting on April 1 on Monday afternoon, at which the Supervisory Board will be reconstituted, it was announced that it was not Mark Mateschitz who would be standing for election to the Supervisory Board, but Florian Hutter as Managing Director of Mark Mateschitz Beteiligungs AG. Stefan Pierer, who has recently come under heavy criticism due to the insolvency of KTM, is no longer on the agenda for the Rosenbauer Supervisory Board. 

"The nominees are experienced managers from the Robau shareholder group and enjoy the full support of the owners around Stefan Pierer, Mark Mateschitz and Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich," Robau stated in a press release. 

Leading global position to be expanded
The current Rosenbauer Supervisory Board Chairman Jörg Astalosch is stepping down, and Bernhard Matzner and Martin Zehnder are also leaving the Supervisory Board. The aim of the newly composed Supervisory Board, which will now include Roithner, Hutter and Hofer, is to support the management in implementing the strategy of further expanding its leading global position as a fire equipment supplier.

"With Robau, we have a new strong majority shareholder with whom we will further develop the positioning of our Group as a global market leader," says CEO Sebastian Wolf, who describes the successful completion of the capital increase as a "new chapter in the company's history".