Maersk Names Patrick Jany CFO
February 12 2020 - 5:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Nina Trentmann and Costas Paris
A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S said Wednesday that Patrick Jany will
become its new finance chief, filling a key opening as the Danish
shipping giant rebuilds its leadership team.
Mr. Jany will start in his new role May 1. He joins from Swiss
chemical company Clariant International Ltd., where he had been CFO
since 2006. Mr. Jany also will become a member of the executive
board at Maersk, the parent of Maersk Line, the world's largest
operator of container ships.
As CFO, Mr. Jany is expected to steer Maersk's efforts to
control spending and generate more revenue from its inland
logistics operations, as the ocean transport business undergoes a
period of falling demand amid slower global growth and the effects
of the coronavirus epidemic.
Maersk had been looking for a new finance chief since November,
when Carolina Dybeck Happe announced she was leaving the CFO role
to take up the same post at General Electric Co. She had been in
the position at Maersk for less than a year.
Ms. Dybeck Happe's exit was among a series of departures at
Maersk, which has been refilling core executive positions and
rebuilding its board.
In December, Maersk named Vincent Clerc as chief executive of
its ocean and logistics division. He assumed some of the duties of
Søren Toft, who resigned as chief operating officer in November.
The company also recently promoted Henriette Hallberg Thygesen --
who previously ran Maersk's salvage company, Svitzer -- to the role
of CEO of towage and manufacturing. She was also named a member of
Maersk's executive board.
Maersk in November also said it would slash hundreds of jobs to
cut costs as the company prepares for significantly higher fuel
costs.
Clariant said Wednesday that Stephan Lynen will fill the CFO
vacancy created by Mr. Jany's departure. Mr. Lynen, who assumes the
role on April 1, currently leads Clariant's additives business. He
has been with the company for more than 20 years in various
management and business roles, according to Clariant.
Mr. Lynen brings experience that reflects the broadening role of
the chief financial officer, including positions involving internal
audits, finance and information technology, Clariant said.
Mr. Jany helped steer Clariant through a strategy revamp
following pressure from activists in 2017 to drop plans to merge
with U.S.-based Huntsman Corp. The company's then-CEO, Ernesto
Occhiello, left in July 2019. Clariant's plans to form a specialty
plastics venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. were halted soon
after.
Clariant in December agreed to sell its Masterbatches unit to
U.S.-based polymer materials provider PolyOne Corp. for $1.6
billion as part of a wider portfolio review. It is now seeking a
buyer for its pigments business, a process that is expected to
close by year's end.
Hariolf Kottmann, Clariant's executive chairman and interim CEO,
credited Mr. Jany with playing a key role in the development of
Clariant, a spinoff of pharmaceuticals company Sandoz, a division
of Swiss drug giant Novartis AG.
Mr. Jany established strong relationships with the financial
community that were vital to implementing Clariant's strategy, the
company said in a statement.
-- Dominic Chopping and Giulia Petroni contributed to this
article.
Write to Nina Trentmann at Nina.Trentmann@wsj.com and Costas
Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 12, 2020 16:47 ET (21:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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