Klaus Josef Lutz appointed Chairman of the Management Board of BayWa AG until 2022

Klaus Josef Lutz; Vorstandsvorsitzender der BayWa; Honorarprofessor der TU Muenchen;
Foto: Andreas Heddergott / Verwendung frei fuer die Berichterstattung ueber die TU Muenchen unter Nennung des Copyrights

MUNICH, 04-Aug-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — On 3 August 2016, the Supervisory Board of BayWa AG, Munich, unanimously voted to appoint Klaus Josef Lutz (58) as Chairman of the Management Board for an additional term of office until 2022. This decision extends Lutz’ existing contract, which terminates on 30 June 2017, for another five years. “With this decision, the Supervisory Board places its unreserved trust in Mr Lutz and sets a clear signal for the strategic course of international growth he has embarked on,” explained Chairman of the Supervisory Board Manfred Nüssel. At the same time, according to the president of Deutsche Raiffeisenverband e.V., extending the contract this year ensures the necessary continuity in the management of the company.

Klaus Josef Lutz joined the stock-listed company as Chief Executive Officer in 2008. The eight years under his management have been characterised by growth and an intensive internationalisation process, especially in the agriculture and renewable energy sectors. Lutz’ strategy has further strengthened the traditional agriculture segment at BayWa which has enjoyed over 90 years of success. At the same time, his vision is helping optimise the business for the future.

Through acquisitions such as Cefetra B.V., Wessex Grain Ltd. and Evergrain Germany GmbH & Co. KG, BayWa has developed into one of the leading agricultural trading companies in the world, while keeping its main focus in Europe. For example, the sale of grains in the past few years grew from approximately 5 million tonnes to approximately 35 million tonnes in 2015. BayWa also expanded its fruit business internationally through the acquisition of the majority shares in T&G Global Limited, a globally acting fruit trading company. With the acquisition of TFC Holland B.V, BayWa additionally became an international player in the tropical fruit business. Since 2008, revenues in the fruit business have constantly risen, leading to a record-high of almost €600 million in 2015.

Klaus Josef Lutz was the key driver in establishing the Renewable Energies business unit, which has been characterised by an international focus from the start. The planning, construction and sale of large-scale systems for power generation using wind and solar energy made BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH, where all renewable activities in the Group are bundled, a leading company in the industry in Europe. In 2015, revenues broke the €1 billion mark for the first time.

From the start, the CEO directed BayWa towards areas of growth and worked to streamline the portfolio by selling non-strategic holdings and businesses such as the DIY and garden centres business. The international agriculture and renewable energies activities now contribute more than 55 percent to the operative EBIT of BayWa. The dividend payment per share has risen continuously from €0.40 in 2008 to €0.85 in 2015.

For the future, the CEO views the digitalisation of the company in conjunction with targeted growth in the international agricultural and renewable energies businesses as the key focus. “As a trading company, we will position ourselves clearly for a digital future and want to assume a leading role in digital farming in Europe in particular,” said Klaus Josef Lutz.

Born in Munich, Klaus Josef Lutz studied Law at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. He started his career as a lawyer but soon assumed managerial positions in a number of different sectors which enabled him to gain extensive experience, above all in the restructuring and development of companies.

Among other positions, Lutz was General Manager of Digital Equipment GmbH, Chief Executive Officer of DITEC Informationstechnologie AG, General Manager of Burda Druck GmbH and Chief Executive Officer of i-center Beteiligungen AG. His last post before joining BayWa was as General Manager of Süddeutscher Verlag GmbH.

Since July 2008, Lutz has been Chief Executive Officer of BayWa AG. The company’s business activities are comprised under the Agriculture, Building Materials and Energy segments, with a special focus on renewable energies.

In addition, Klaus Josef Lutz is on the supervisory boards of a number of listed and private companies, including Euro Pool System International, Rijswijk/ Netherlands (Chairman), WHG mbH, Klagenfurt/ Austria (Chairman), T&G Global Limited, Auckland/ New Zealand (Chairman), RWA AG, Vienna/ Austria (Member of the Supervisory Board) and Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Munich/ Germany (Chairman). In 2013, Lutz was appointed honorary professor of Managerial Economics of Co-operative Societies at the Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich). Since 2016, he has been vice president of the IHK München und Oberbayern (Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Munich and Upper Bavaria).

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Editorial Team

Marion Danneboom
Head of PR/Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 (0)89/9222-3680 Fax: +49 (0)89/9222-3698 e-mail

SOURCE: BayWa