Hochtief loses another Board member

Dr Burkhard Lohr has resigned as Hochtief's CFO. He is the third member of the company's five-strong Executive Board to announce his departure in less than six weeks.

Both Dr Lohr and Dr Peter Noé, who announced his resignation as a Board member and head of Hochtief Concessions and Hochtief Asia Pacific on March 11, used extraordinary termination clauses in their contracts, linked to Spanish contractor ACS crossing a threshold of 30% ownership in Hochtief.

ACS announced an all-share takeover offer for Hochtief in December. The company says it aims to secure just over a 50% stake in Hochtief to give it control of the company but still leave a substantial number of shares available as a free float. The move was opposed by Hochtief's management.

In addition to these departures, CEO and Executive Board chairman Dr Herbert Lütkestratkötter announced his retirement from the company on April 10, despite being aged 61 - six years short of the normal German retirement age - and having occupied the post for just two years. Dr Frank Stieler, the current head of Hochtief Europe, has been elected as the new chairman of the executive board, and will take over from Dr Lütkestratkötter following the company's general shareholders' meeting on May 12.

Along with Dr Stieler, the only other member of the five-strong Hochtief Executive Board to remain in place is Dr Martin Rohr, who is responsible for Hochtief's activities in the Americas.