ABB ABB Ltd

   By Anthony Shevlin 
 

ABB Ltd. (ABBN.EB) on Sunday named Bjoern Rosengren as its new chief executive, succeeding Peter Voser who has been in the role on an interim basis.

The Swiss company said Mr. Rosengren will join the company on Feb. 1 and will then assume the role of chief executive on March 1. Mr. Rosengren has been the chief executive of engineering group Sandvik AB (SAND.SK) since 2015.

Mr. Voser will revert to his position as chairman of the board.

"The board is pleased that Bjoern Rosengren will be taking the lead at ABB, bringing with him a proven track record of value creation and exactly the managerial skills ABB needs during the next stage of its transformation," Mr. Voser said.

Investor AB (INVE-B.SK), which holds an 11.2% share of capital and votes in ABB and is its largest shareholder, welcomed Mr. Rosengren's appointment and said he is the right person to lead the Swiss company.

"We fully support ABB's new strategic direction with a simplified and decentralized organizational structure," Investor AB Chief Executive Johan Forssell said.

In April, ABB parted ways with its then CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer, who left with immediate effect after five years in the job.

Mr. Spiesshofer's departure came just months after the engineering company unveiled a major new strategy.

Last month, ABB issued a fairly cautious short-term outlook, noting that global markets remain affected by geopolitical uncertainties, and said its second-quarter net profit fell due to charges relating to the sale of its solar-inverter business.

Write to Anthony Shevlin at anthony.shevlin@dowjones.com; @anthony_shevlin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 12, 2019 02:27 ET (06:27 GMT)

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