73rd General Meeting of VERBUND
16.06.2020Vienna
Michael Strugl will take over as Chairman of the Executive Board of VERBUND AG on 1 January 2021. New VERBUND Supervisory Board appointed.
The Supervisory Board of VERBUND AG has appointed Michael Strugl (56) to take over as chair of the Executive Board on 1 January 2021. Michael Strugl follows Wolfgang Anzengruber (64), whose third term in office expires on 31 December 2020. “The decision of the Supervisory Board was unanimous,” says Thomas Schmid, chair of the Supervisory Board of VERBUND and member of the Executive Board of Österreichische Beteiligungs-AG ÖBAG. “The future of Austria’s biggest electricity company is in safe hands.” Michael Strugl was appointed chair of the Executive Board at the Supervisory Board meeting on 17 Mach 2020; the official announcement was made during the general meeting, which was postponed to 16 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis and the associated adjustment of the financial calendar. Michael Strugl has been a member of the Executive Board and Deputy CEO since January 2019, and is responsible for the areas of Energy Business, HR, Innovation & New Business, Communication as well as the sales companies VERBUND Energy4Business, VERBUND Energy4Customers and VERBUND Green Power GmbH.
Michael Strugl was previously the deputy governor of Upper Austria and responsible for the areas of Economy, Energy, Technology and Innovation. He was also the chair of the Supervisory Board of Energie AG Oberösterreich. He studied social and business sciences as well as law at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and international finance at the University of Toronto.
With the appointment of Michael Strugl, the Executive Board of VERBUND will be reduced from four to three members as of 1 January 2021: in addition to Michael Strugl, the Executive Board team will include Peter F. Kollmann (57), finance director since 1 January 2014, and Achim Kaspar (55), director of generation and digitalisation since 1 January 2019.
Digital general meeting
The 73rd ordinary general meeting of VERBUND was postponed from 28 April 2020 to 16 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis and was held, in accordance with the statutory COVID-19 regulations, as a virtual general meeting for the first time, in the physical presence of the Supervisory Board’s chair, the Executive Board’s chair and other members of the Executive Board, the certifying notary and the five special proxies appointed by the company. Further shareholders took part digitally in the general meeting.
Dividend 2019
The general meeting of 16 June 2020 proposed and accepted a dividend of €0.69 per share for financial year 2019. The dividend yield for 2019 is 43.2% based on the reported group result and 43.7% based on the group result adjusted for non-recurring effects.
New Supervisory Board members appointed
At the general meeting, three existing members of the Supervisory Board (Jürgen Roth, Stefan Szyszkowitz and Peter Weinelt) and five new members were appointed during the regular election of the Supervisory Board. The new members are: Christine Catasta, Susan Hennersdorf, Barbara Praetorius, Eckhardt Rümmler and Christa Schlager. In future, Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß, Harald Kaszanits, Werner Muhm, Susanne Riess and Christa Wagner will no longer be members of the Supervisory Board. The proportion of women on the new VERBUND Supervisory Board is 40% amongst the shareholder representatives and 46% amongst the 15-member Supervisory Board as a whole.
The former chairman Thomas Schmid was confirmed in his position at the subsequently convened meeting of the Supervisory Board. Martin Ohneberg was appointed as the first deputy chair and Christine Catasta as the second deputy chair. The chair and his first deputy are appointed for the term in office up to the ordinary general meeting in 2024, the terms in office of the other shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board end after two, three or four years.
Shareholder representative on the VERBUND Supervisory Board
Thomas Schmid, chair of the Supervisory Board
Martin Ohneberg, first deputy chair
Christine Catasta
Susan Hennersdorf
Barbara Praetorius
Jürgen Roth
Eckhardt Rümmler
Christa Schlager
Stefan Szyszkowitz
Peter Weinelt
Michael Strugl was previously the deputy governor of Upper Austria and responsible for the areas of Economy, Energy, Technology and Innovation. He was also the chair of the Supervisory Board of Energie AG Oberösterreich. He studied social and business sciences as well as law at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and international finance at the University of Toronto.
With the appointment of Michael Strugl, the Executive Board of VERBUND will be reduced from four to three members as of 1 January 2021: in addition to Michael Strugl, the Executive Board team will include Peter F. Kollmann (57), finance director since 1 January 2014, and Achim Kaspar (55), director of generation and digitalisation since 1 January 2019.
Digital general meeting
The 73rd ordinary general meeting of VERBUND was postponed from 28 April 2020 to 16 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis and was held, in accordance with the statutory COVID-19 regulations, as a virtual general meeting for the first time, in the physical presence of the Supervisory Board’s chair, the Executive Board’s chair and other members of the Executive Board, the certifying notary and the five special proxies appointed by the company. Further shareholders took part digitally in the general meeting.
Dividend 2019
The general meeting of 16 June 2020 proposed and accepted a dividend of €0.69 per share for financial year 2019. The dividend yield for 2019 is 43.2% based on the reported group result and 43.7% based on the group result adjusted for non-recurring effects.
New Supervisory Board members appointed
At the general meeting, three existing members of the Supervisory Board (Jürgen Roth, Stefan Szyszkowitz and Peter Weinelt) and five new members were appointed during the regular election of the Supervisory Board. The new members are: Christine Catasta, Susan Hennersdorf, Barbara Praetorius, Eckhardt Rümmler and Christa Schlager. In future, Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß, Harald Kaszanits, Werner Muhm, Susanne Riess and Christa Wagner will no longer be members of the Supervisory Board. The proportion of women on the new VERBUND Supervisory Board is 40% amongst the shareholder representatives and 46% amongst the 15-member Supervisory Board as a whole.
The former chairman Thomas Schmid was confirmed in his position at the subsequently convened meeting of the Supervisory Board. Martin Ohneberg was appointed as the first deputy chair and Christine Catasta as the second deputy chair. The chair and his first deputy are appointed for the term in office up to the ordinary general meeting in 2024, the terms in office of the other shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board end after two, three or four years.
Shareholder representative on the VERBUND Supervisory Board
Thomas Schmid, chair of the Supervisory Board
Martin Ohneberg, first deputy chair
Christine Catasta
Susan Hennersdorf
Barbara Praetorius
Jürgen Roth
Eckhardt Rümmler
Christa Schlager
Stefan Szyszkowitz
Peter Weinelt
