The supervisory board of the German conglomerate BayWa, which is suffering from billions in debt, is drawing personnel consequences in the executive suite: CEO Marcus Pöllinger will vacate his post at the end of the month, as the company, which has a significant stake in the warehouse parent Raiffeisen Ware Austria (RWA) in Austria, announced on Thursday announced. Chief Financial Officer Andreas Helber will also be leaving on March 31 next year.
In both cases, the departure is amicable, according to the supervisory board. There is no successor yet. According to the announcement, the process for filling these two top positions has been initiated. Management consultant Michael Baur, who has been in a key position as general representative for several weeks, will now formally join the board.
290 million euros loss in the first half of the year
BayWa suffers from a mountain of debt of more than 5 billion euros in long-term and short-term financial liabilities. At the same time, the weak global economy has affected all of the company’s business areas. In the first half of the year it made a loss of 290 million euros – also due to high write-downs on its renewable energy business.
Creditor banks and major shareholders supported the group in mid-August with a short-term cash injection of more than half a billion euros. However, a longer-term program is necessary. Among other things, a syndicated loan with a limit of up to 2 billion euros expires in September 2025.
BayWa’s participation in RWA is not the only link between the agricultural group and Austria: with 28.3 percent, BayWa’s second largest shareholder is the Austrian Raiffeisen Agrar Invest AG, whose owner in turn is RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria Handel und Vermögensverwaltung with 63.625 percent and the Raiffeisen Agrar Holding GmbH is owned by Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs (LLI) Aktiengesellschaft with 36.375 percent.
