Schweizer to stay on at Clariant for another year
Rolf Schweizer is to stay on as chairman of the specialty chemicals group, Clariant, for another 12 months because the company has failed to find a successor.
Schweizer was due to retire at Wednesday’s annual general meeting because he has reached the age limit of 70. But shareholders backed the board in their request for him to stay on as the company undergoes a radical transformation.
The group is selling several major businesses and cutting hundreds of jobs to focus on core activities and strengthen its financial position after its takeover of the British fine chemical maker, BTP.
The surprise development came after months of silence from Clariant on who would succeed Schweizer. He became chairman in 1996 after the company was spun off from Sandoz the previous year.
Schweizer said the company had approached several prospective successors but failed to find anyone suitable.
He said one factor that had put off some potential recruits had been high profile boardroom squabbling at other Swiss companies such as Swissair, Sulzer, Zurich Financial and, most recently, Kuoni.
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