German car giant VW says that it has withdrawn plans to appoint several of its executives to MAN Truck’s board as it attempts to convince the EU to give regulatory clearance to merge MAN and Scania.
The company had wanted to place the appointment of its CEO Martin Winterkorn, CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch and truck boss Jochem Heizmann to the board on the agenda at MAN’s AGM this week. However it has subsequently backed down as it continues talks with the European Commission to gain regulatory approval while it increases its stake to between 35% and 40% of the company.
While the much-lauded merger continues to get bogged down, CEO Georg Pachta-Reyhofen told MAN shareholders that the three companies were now entering a “new, vigorous phase”.
“Partnering with powerful players like Scania and VW opens up a whole world of new opportunities. The next big change might be in store for us and MAN may be becoming part of a bigger picture.”
