Sven Schneider Named CFO of Linde

Sven Schneider has been named to the managing board of German industrial gases and engineering group Linde with the function of chief financial officer. The 50-year-old German has assumed the CFO’s role on an interim basis since September 2016. His predecessor, Georg Denoke, was forced to step down after siding with labor representatives on the supervisory board against the company’s plans to merge with US rival Praxair.

Prior to taking on the CFO role, Schneider was head of Group Treasury at Linde from April 2011. Previous positions included head of Corporate Finance and head of Cash Management / Treasury Controlling.

Along with appointing Schneider, the supervisory board has extended the contracts of managing board members Bernd Eulitz and Christian Bruch by five years each.

Meanwhile, reports say Dublin, Ireland, is the front runner to become official headquarters of the holding of the new Linde, which will incorporate the German group’s gases division and Praxair. The engineering division will remain in Munich. Previous speculation had focused on Amsterdam or London as holding headquarters. The new player, to be headed by Praxair’s Steve Angel as CEO, will be managed from the US, however.

The split corporate functions, common among pharmaceutical companies settling in Ireland for tax reasons, are somewhat more unusual among chemical producers – LyondellBasell practices this model, with a holding headquartered in the Netherlands and management based in the US.

Linde’s workforce and a number of shareholders are said to still be unhappy with the merger plans.  While employees fear the loss of co-determination rights with the new entity steered from the US, shareholders say they have not been informed about the fusion plans in sufficient detail.

Linde is due to present annual results on Mar. 9.