The fund company Deka Investment has asked Thyssenkrupp to sell its armaments business. “We demand the immediate sale of all armaments activities,” said the head of sustainability and corporate governance at Deka Investment, Ingo Speich, at the group’s virtual general meeting, according to the speech. The reputation and compliance risk of this business area is disproportionate to the profit generated. Even a partial sale is a step in the right direction. Speich turned directly to CEO Martina Merz: “Ms. Merz, sell these assets.” Deka is Thyssenkrupp’s twelfth-largest shareholder with a 0.45 percent stake. Thyssenkrupp’s armaments business focuses on the Marine Systems division. This builds conventional submarines and warships and develops technologies for salvaging ammunition. The subsidiary employs around 6,900 people in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremen and Emden. In the past fiscal year, these locations achieved an operating profit of 32 million euros with sales of 1.8 billion euros. In her previously published speech, Merz once again asked investors to be patient. The uncertain market environment has prevented the group from making progress as planned on some issues. The aim is still to make the steel business eligible for the capital market. The intended partial IPO of the hydrogen subsidiary Nucera depends primarily on the situation on the stock exchanges. “We don’t feel any time pressure, business is developing well.”
Defense division – pressure on Thyssenkrupp – economy
