Monday, December 13, 2021
After takeover
Deutsche Wohnen boss lets Vonovia run up
Vonovia recently successfully took over a majority of a good 19 billion euros from Germany’s second largest landlord, Deutsche Wohnen, on its third attempt. But the merger of the two board members of the real estate groups is initially going differently than planned.
Deutsche Wohnen boss Michael Zahn does not want to move into the board of the Bochum company after the takeover of his group by the industry leader Vonovia. Vonovia announced that Zahn had decided not to accept the Vonovia’s supervisory board’s offer to appoint him as deputy chairman of the board.
Zahn said the decision was very difficult for him. But he “became aware that after 14 years as CEO of Deutsche Wohnen I would not have been able to drive the integration forward as impartially and objectively as it corresponds to my own requirements”. Vonovia boss Rolf Buch said for his part that he regretted Zahn’s decision very much.
Vonovia secured a majority of 86.7 in Deutsche Wohnen in October after several unsuccessful attempts. The two companies together own more than 500,000 apartments valued at over 80 billion euros, most of them in Germany.
Buch now wants to tackle the integration of the smaller Berlin competitor. Vonovia had also announced in the course of the takeover that it would expand the management board and bring Zahn on board. But he decided differently, the two power-conscious managers Buch and Zahn will not sit on the same board.
Deutsche Wohnen CFO Philip Grosse, however, has no reservations about a position on the Vonovia Management Board. He announced that he wanted to help shape the merging of the two companies there. As announced, Helene von Roeder, who was previously responsible for finance at Vonovia, will be appointed to the board of directors for digitization and innovation.
Arnd Fittkau and Daniel Riedl will continue to be responsible for their departments in the Vonovia Executive Board, which is managed by Buch. “I am pleased that the merger is really picking up speed with the turn of the year,” said Buch.