Continental accuses rival of trying to destabilise its chief executive
Tyre maker Continental yesterday rubbished reports that its chief executive had threatened to resign unless the board agrees to rebuff a £9bn hostile take over offer from rival firm Schaeffler.
A source at Conti accused Schaeffler of colluding with the Frankfurt General Newspaper (FGN), one of Germany’s leading broadsheets, to create speculation about chief executive Manfred Wennemer’s future and to destabilise the company.
“This is just speculation designed to cause uncertainty and to make mischief. The Schaeffler group is very close to the FGN, and this has been set up by them,” the source said.
The Conti board is split over the hostile offer, with Chairman Hubertus von Grünberg telling other executives that he thinks they should put the €69.37 (£55.02) a share offer to shareholders.
But a source at Conti suggested that Grünberg is too close to the ball bearings firm. He worked as an adviser to Schaeffler until 1999 before moving to ITT, the American car parts maker, where he worked alongside Jürgen Geissinger, Schaeffler’s current chief executive.
Last week, Conti told CityA.M. that a group of investment banks – including Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch – had worked on Schaeffler’s behalf, using swap transactions to build up a 36 per cent stake so the firm did not have to disclose its interest.
Schaeffler did not return calls made by CityA.M.