Kemira Oyj
Stock exchange release
October 27, 2011 at 08.30 am (CET+1)
Harri Kerminen will retire on April 1, 2012 after successfully leading the company through a major strategic change into a water chemistry company and turning the company around to a profitable path. This last assignment completes his 26 years of successful career at Kemira.
Wolfgang Büchele (PhD, Chemistry) has been appointed Kemira Oyj’s President and CEO as of April 1, 2012. He has been a member of Kemira’s Board of Directors since 2009.
“Kemira’s Board of Directors started the CEO succession process this summer due to Harri Kerminen’s anticipated retirement in 2013. The process was faster than expected and therefore we agreed with Harri Kerminen that he will retire earlier than planned. As a member of Kemira’s pension fund he has the right for this”, says Pekka Paasikivi, the Chairman of the Board.
Wolfgang Büchele will bring to Kemira extensive and broad industrial knowledge combined with international experience and network, especially in the fast developing Asian markets. He has spent most of his career, from 1993 until 2007 in BASF’s Fine Chemicals organization in Europe, China and United States. Since 2009 he has been member of the Board and CEO of BorsodChem Zrt. in Hungary. He and his family will move to Finland.
Press conference and conference call
Kemira will arrange a press conference for analysts and the media on Thursday, October 27, 2011 starting at 10.30 am at Kemira House, Porkkalankatu 3, Helsinki. In the conference, Kemira’s chairman of the board, Pekka Paasikivi will present Kemira’s new President and CEO as of April 1, 2012, Wolfgang Büchele. After the presentation, current President and CEO Harri Kerminen will present the January-September 2011 results. Conference will end with a Q&A session. The press conference will be held in English. Presentation material will be available on Kemira’s website at www.kemira.com under Investors in English and at www.kemira.fi in Finnish at 10.30 am.
Conference call in connection to the press and analyst conference
You can also listen to the conference live over the phone and attend the Q&A session via a conference call or watch the conference via webcast (link to the webcast available here: www.kemira.com under Investors). In order to participate in the call, please dial +44 (0)20 7162 0025, code 905820 ten minutes before the conference begins. Presentation material will be available on Kemira’s website. A recording of the conference call will be available on Kemira’s website later the same day.
For more information, please contact
Pekka Paasikivi
Chairman of the Board
Mobile: +358 50 501 06 66
Further information for the press, please contact
Kemira Oyj
Leena Lie, VP, Communications
+358 10 862 1153
Further information for the investors, please contact
Kemira Oyj
Tero Huovinen, Director, Investor Relations
+358 10 862 1980
Kemira is a global two billion euro water chemistry company that is focused on serving customers in water-intensive industries. The company offers water quality and quantity management that improves customers’ energy, water, and raw material efficiency. Kemira’s vision is to be a leading water chemistry company.