telecommunications
Post boss Appel new chairman of the supervisory board of Telekom
At the Deutsche Telekom shareholders’ meeting, Post CEO Appel was elected to the Telekom Supervisory Board. Photo: Matthias Oesterle/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Numerous shareholders express concerns about the double burden of the manager at the Telekom general meeting. But in the end, the owners approved Frank Appel at the head of the supervisory board.
The CEO of Deutsche Post, Frank Appel, will in future also lead the supervisory board of Deutsche Telekom.
The control body of the largest German telecommunications group elected Appel on Thursday evening after the general meeting as chairman of the supervisory board, as announced by Telekom in Bonn. Previously, the Telekom shareholders had cleared the way for the post boss to also lead the supervisory board in a personal union.
A number of shareholders expressed concerns about the manager’s double burden. However, at the Telekom shareholders’ meeting in Bonn, Appel finally received the necessary majority for entry into the control committee. A total of almost 84 percent of the share capital present voted for the manager. Appel succeeds Ulrich Lehner, who is leaving the Telekom Supervisory Board after 14 years.
Appeal wants to have a dual function
The 60-year-old Appel wants to take on a dual role for a good year and remain in the post’s executive chair while at the same time being at the head of the Telekom supervisory board. This did not go down well with a number of shareholder representatives. They warned against overloading Appel with time and pointed out that a set of rules for good corporate governance advises against such a double function.
Ingo Speich from the fund company Deka Investment emphasized: “Even for the best manager, these two mandates are too much.” And Henrik Pontzen from the fund company Union Investment also said that Appel could not be the head of Post and Telekom at the same time. “Even if it’s only temporary: two top positions are one too many.” The German Protection Association for Securities Ownership (DSW) also criticized.
Appel himself defended his candidacy at the Annual General Meeting. He announced that he would soon be handing over some of his duties at the post office in order to have enough time for his supervisory board mandate at Telekom. In addition, he has already dealt with similar double burdens several times in the past – for example when he was simultaneously head of the post office and chairman of the supervisory board of Postbank during the financial crisis.
Lehner defends Appel’s appeal
The outgoing Telekom supervisory board chairman Lehner also defended Appel’s appointment. The Post boss is “an extraordinarily qualified occupation” for the post. “Available candidates of this caliber are rare.” The German corporate governance code also allows for such a solution in exceptional cases. The decision for Appel is reasonable and correct.
The war in Ukraine played a rather subordinate role at the shareholders’ meeting. Telekom was only slightly affected – not even by Russia sanctions, stressed CEO Tim Höttges. Because the group did not run its own business in Russia. However, Telekom recently employed around 2,000 software developers there. The group has now offered them the opportunity to continue working for the group outside of Russia. “You can work for us from other countries. And the majority of employees have already accepted this offer and left the country,” said Höttges.