Dr. Thomas Toepfer, CFO of KION GROUP AG, will be leaving the company on March 31, 2018. He will be joining Covestro AG in Leverkusen, a polymer material manufacturers, in the same role. On Monday, the Supervisory Board of KION GROUP AG agreed to Dr. Toepfer’s request to have his contract – which would have run until August 31, 2020 – terminated early. The Supervisory Board will decide on his successor very soon.

Dr. John Feldmann, chairman of the Supervisory Board, stated: “It is with regret that the Supervisory Board has accepted Thomas Toepfer’s resignation, but we respect his decision to pursue his next career step outside our Group. Thomas is a very experienced CFO and Labor Relations Director and we are sorry to be losing him. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Riske, he has worked closely with his colleagues on the Executive Board and has played a crucial role in our success and in shaping the positive development of our Group over more than five years. He has placed the financial structure of the Group on a sound long-term footing, and will be handing over the finance function in very good shape. Dr. Toepfer has played a crucial role in ensuring that the KION Group has enjoyed the confidence of the capital markets and of its shareholders in recent years.”

Gordon Riske, Chief Executive Officer of the KION Group, said: “I would like to thank Dr. Toepfer for the successful and collaborative working relationship and for the substantial contribution he has made to the trajectory of profitable growth and our transformation into an integrated supply chain solutions provider. We wish him the best of luck and every success in his new role.”