[SatNews] It's official.
Following the entry in the commercial register, OHB AG has officially adopted the legal structure of a Societas Europaea and is therefore now known as OHB SE.
The shareholders had previously passed a resolution in July 2014 approving this change in corporate status. OHB SE’s registered offices and headquarters will remain in Bremen. As a result of the change in corporate status, the previous shareholders have automatically become shareholders in OHB SE; accordingly, there is no change in their shareholder status.
By adopting SE status, OHB is responding to the growing Europeanization of space technology and the Group’s increasing intercultural structures. The change of corporate status will permit improved governance and promote an open and European corporate culture. At the same time, it is now easier for OHB SE to establish new branches within the European Union.
The special negotiating body comprising members of the employee representative councils in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, representatives from the trade union IG Metall and OHB’s management unanimously agreed on a joint participation agreement specifically tailored to the OHB’s requirements to govern future co-determination rights at the European level.
Marco R. Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE, welcomes the agreement with the special negotiating body, “The constructive way in which the negotiations were conducted resulted in a mutually acceptable and appropriate solution for OHB. I am pleased that the special negotiating body agreed to this solution. At OHB SE we will be creating a shared European corporate culture, which will be materially influenced by the employees’ co-determination rights.”
Reinhard Stelljes, chairman of the special negotiating body and of the Group employee representative council, agrees and looks forward to exercising the employee co-determination rights in the European company. “The agreement which we have reached with management shows that OHB takes employee co-determination very seriously. In view of these underlying conditions, I am looking forward to contributing to co-determination at OHB SE.”
Tim Fink, the trade union representative from IG Metall and a member of the special negotiating body, also sees the agreed solution as preserving the employees’ interests. “The agreement which has been reached takes account in reasonable form of OHB SE’s future business potential.”
The agreement with the special negotiating body also provides for a size threshold to determine the future composition of the Supervisory Board.
