Leoni CEO Aldo Kamper surprisingly takes his hat off in the middle of the renovation of the Nuremberg car supplier. The 52-year-old Dutchman is leaving the company at the end of March “to take on a new task at short notice,” Leoni announced on Monday. As it became known on Monday evening, he is moving to the Osram electronics group. A successor is not yet in sight, the supervisory board wants to take care of it immediately. Kamper has managed Leoni since September 2018.
“Bought to manage the planned growth, he proved himself as a crisis manager,” said Klaus Rinnerberger, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Soon after taking office, Kamper began to fundamentally restructure the manufacturer of cable harnesses and wires for cars and industry, which had more than 90,000 employees at the time, because growth had gotten out of hand.
However, Leoni suffered a setback during the restructuring when the buyer for the cable business, the Thai Stark Corp, surprisingly jumped out at the end of last year. The proceeds from the sale were an important building block for the restructuring concept. Now the crisis manager Hans-Joachim Ziems, as a member of the board, is again taking care of securing the group’s financing.
“I would have liked to have completed the restructuring of this promising company as CEO,” said Kamper. “However, the challenge I face is the consistent continuation of my professional career. I couldn’t say no to that.” Kamper returns to the Osram lighting company, where he previously worked.