After the surprising termination of short-term boss Andreas Lehner, the supervisory board of the municipal housing company Gewofag is now trying to set up the next interim management. This should then also carry out the merger with the sister company GWG to form “Münchner Wohnen” planned for the turn of the year.
The Gewofag supervisory board may now want to bring forward the entry of the previous SPD city councilor Christian Müller, who was actually supposed to become a member of the management on December 1st, to November. The SZ found out about this on Tuesday afternoon after the end of an extraordinary meeting of the committee that lasted several hours. A decision on how to proceed with filling the CEO position will not be made until the next regular Supervisory Board meeting at the end of November.
According to reports, it will result in a new tender, but this could only take place in the new year – once the excitement surrounding the merger has calmed down somewhat, at least that is the hope in the supervisory board. The new real estate giant on the Munich housing market could start without a CEO. The future of Armin Hagen, who will act as interim head of GWG until the end of the year, is still unclear.
The crisis meeting on Tuesday became necessary after Andreas Lehner had terminated his contract as chairman of Gewofag’s management and designated “Münchner-Wohnen” boss a week earlier – just under a month after he took up the job.
Lehner, who had moved from the private real estate industry to the municipal company, justified his step, which was unexpected for everyone else involved, with fundamental differences and ambiguities about the merger process. Lehner called the fact that the merger of GWG and Gewofag should work “on an equal footing”, as politicians had dictated, “social-romantic nonsense”. There will be winners and losers, but how to deal with them is unclear. The merger project was “completely lost.”
The chairwoman of the supervisory board, Munich’s third mayor Verena Dietl (SPD), has not yet publicly addressed the fundamental criticism in detail. However, she emphasized on Tuesday that the merger was “still at a very good level”, that the plan was still being pursued and that the employees were motivated.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the external consultants hired for the process presented the current status of the merger at an information event, with representatives of the GWG also present. According to reports, it was also about finances.
The scenario of GWG’s insolvency put forward by former short-term boss Lehner was refuted, it was said from participants after the meeting. The financial merger of GWG and Gewofag could take place as planned at the turn of the year, but the personnel merger could take a little longer.
Management positions will be eliminated at various levels in the merged company. At the same time, employees should not suffer any salary losses as a result of the merger. These processes, among other things, should be regulated in a works agreement, which is unlikely to have been negotiated. For some employees it could result in contract terminations in exchange for severance pay.
However, as was reportedly discussed in the supervisory board, these processes could drag on into the new year, so that there could still be people with GWG employment contracts in 2024.