Cevian Capital Appoints Eckhard Cordes as Partner

PFAFFIKON, Switzerland, October 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Cevian Capital, Europe's largest active ownership fund manager, has appointed Dr Eckhard Cordes as a partner. In this function, Cordes will strengthen Cevian Capital's business activities in Germany and Northern Europe.

Eckhard Cordes is one of Germany's most respected industrialists, having gained a wide range of business expertise over a period of more than 30 years in CEO and senior executive positions at major German companies. These positions included 20 years in leadership positions with the Daimler Benz Group (including CEO of Mercedes Car Group and CEO of Daimler Commercial Vehicles (trucks, busses and vans)). After leaving Daimler, he spent four years as CEO of Franz Haniel & Cie, one of Germany's largest family-owned industrial holding companies. From 2007 through 2011 he was CEO of Metro AG, the world's 4^th largest retailer^[1] with about $90 billion of revenues, 2,100 locations and 280,000 staff in 33 countries. He also has significant experience as a board director, and has served or currently serves as a director of numerous industrial companies including SKF AB, Carl Zeiss AG, Rheinmetall AG, Schaeffler AG, EADS, Mitsubishi Motors, as well as on the advisory board of Rothschild. He currently chairs German industry's Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations.

Eckhard Cordes said: "I am pleased to become part of the Cevian team. From the corporate perspective I understand how valuable it is to have a long-term, engaged and knowledgeable owner like Cevian as an anchor shareholder. I am excited to work alongside Cevian in  their efforts to strengthen the competitive position of their portfolio companies for the benefit of all stakeholders."

Jens Tischendorf, partner of Cevian Capital, commented: "In Eckhard Cordes we have attracted to our company an outstanding figure of German industry. He has deep and broad industrial experience, a strong reputation for adding long-term value to the businesses he has led, and an extensive network within German and European board rooms. We look forward to working with him in Germany and in our other key geographies."

About Cevian Capital

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1. By revenues, all figures for 2011

Cevian Capital manages about € 6 billion dedicated to active ownership investing in Northern European listed companies. Cevian purchases significant stakes in fundamentally strong companies to which it believes it can add lasting value through active ownership. It invests with a long-term horizon and does not use leverage or hedge its investments. The majority of its capital base is provided by institutional investors such as pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds, and 75% of this capital is committed to Cevian for rolling periods of 3 and 5 years.

Founded in 2002, Cevian has 22 investment professionals working from offices in London, Stockholm and Zurich, reflecting the regions in which the firm invests: The Nordic countries, the German-speaking countries and the UK. Its investments today are approximately evenly spread over these regions.

Approximately 18 months ago Cevian was joined by Lord (Paul) Myners, the former UK Financial Services Minister, boardroom leader and noted advocate for better ownership practices by institutions and pension funds.

In the Nordics Cevian Capital II (Cevian's main investment vehicle) is a significant owner of Volvo (the truck and construction equipment producer), Danske Bank (a leading Nordic bank), Metso (a Finnish industrial equipment producer) and Tieto (a Nordic IT services company). In German-speaking Europe, it is a large owner of Bilfinger (the German-based industrial services group) and Panalpina (the Swiss-based logistics firm). In the United Kingdom, Cevian holds significant stakes in Old Mutual (a global insurance company), Wolseley (the world's leading distributor of plumbing and heating materials), and Cookson (a global supplier to industrial and electronics companies).

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