Aurubis executive changes finalized

Hamburg, Germany-based metals producer Aurubis AG says its management staff will be restructured with new appointments in 2024. The company’s supervisory board has agreed with CEO Roland Harings, Chief Financial Officer Rainer Verhoeven and Chief Operating Officer of Custom Smelting & Products Dr. Heiko Arnold to prematurely terminate their current executive board contracts.

Reports of the resignations began to circulate earlier in the month and are tied to a discrepancies in inventory fraud case involving recycled-content feedstock that the company disclosed last September.

“The three executive board members are thus taking accountability for the unique challenges Aurubis faced in the past fiscal year, in particular in light of the serious cases of fraud and theft at the Hamburg plant and incidents in occupational safety," the company says.

In May of last year, what Aurubis termed a “serious industrial accident” at its smelter site in Hamburg caused three employee fatalities. The incident was tied to a nitrogen leak that occurred while maintenance tasks were being performed.

The three departing executives will undertake phased exit, with Harings being the last to leave Sept. 30.

“Based on a comprehensive legal opinion from the Hengeler Mueller law firm on the responsibility of the three executive board members, the supervisory board has also decided not to pursue compensation for damages against the three executive board members at this time," Aurubis says.

Supervisory Board Chair PDr. Fritz Vahrenholt says, “The decision of Roland Harings, Rainer Verhoeven and Dr. Heiko Arnold signals exceptional accountability and clears the way for a systematic restructuring and forward-looking cooperation at the company’s helm.”

Inge Hofkens, who joined the Aurubis executive board in January 2023 and heads the company’s recycling division, including all activities in the United States, will continue in her role on the executive board and assume overall responsibility for the Aurubis commercial division, according to the company.

Effective March 1, Markus Kramer will move from the supervisory board to the executive board. Further appointments will follow, according to Aurubis. Kramer was a long-time BASF manager and executive who has international experience.

“With his executive board team, Roland Harings drove the company’s strategic development forward, including opening the door to a promising future on the U.S. growth market," Vahrenholt says.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the three board members for their hard work and dedication as part of the Aurubis AG executive board. They were all instrumental in the positive economic development of Aurubis AG in recent years.”

“The entire Aurubis management team accomplished a great deal for Aurubis in difficult times," Harings says. "I am proud of this fact, and the entire Aurubis team should be proud as well. We also have to recognize, however, that Aurubis has been the victim of criminal activities to the considerable detriment of the company. It goes without saying that we will continue to fulfill our responsibilities to the fullest until the efficient handover is complete.”