Baywa celebrated its hundredth birthday in 2023, and the big crisis followed a year later. Now the supervisory board is making it clear that it wants a fresh start in every respect.
The supervisory board of the Munich conglomerate Baywa, which is suffering from billions in debt, is drawing personnel conclusions in the executive suite: CEO Marcus Pöllinger will vacate his post at the end of the month, as the company 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; the process for filling these two top positions has been initiated, according to the announcement. Management consultant Michael Baur, who – previously as general representative – has been in a key position for a few weeks now, will now formally join the board.
Supervisory board wants a fresh start
Baywa is the largest German agricultural trader and as such plays an important role in agriculture and food supply, especially in southern and eastern Germany. The Baywa inspectors, led by the experienced cooperative banker Gregor Scheller, are making it clear that they also want to see a new beginning in terms of personnel. Pöllinger has been a member of the Baywa board since 2019. However, he has only been CEO for a year and a half, supported by his long-time predecessor Klaus Josef Lutz. On the one hand, the manager had built up the new renewable energy business area and, on the other hand, expanded Baywa’s agricultural business around the globe.
The company now suffers from a mountain of debt of more than five billion euros in long-term and short-term financial liabilities, a significant part of which is due to the loan-financed expansion during the Lutz era. CFO Helber has been in office since 2010. The farewell date in March 2025 suggests that the preparation of the consolidated balance sheet in 2024 will still be under Helber’s direction.
Syndicated loan charged
In 2023 and also in the first half of 2024, Baywa posted losses in the three-digit million range. A major challenge ahead is the expiry of a so-called syndicated loan with a framework of up to two billion euros in September 2025. Around half of the high financial debts are short-term liabilities, as can be seen in the group’s financial reports. In this respect, the company needs liquid funds for the banks.
The main shareholders of Baywa are the affiliated companies of the cooperative banks in Bavaria and Austria. They have agreed with Baywa’s board of directors and creditor banks on a financial injection in the three-digit million range, but the restructuring of the company will probably take years – as the company itself announced a few weeks ago. It is generally expected that after the expansion in the Lutz era, Baywa will now sell parts of the company and thus become smaller again.
Former CEO Lutz criticized
Many shareholders see Lutz – as President of the Bavarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, one of the most prominent association officials in the Bavarian economy – as the main person responsible. Accordingly, a number of shareholders expressed their anger at Pöllinger’s predecessor at the general meeting in June. Lutz moved directly from the Baywa board to the head of the supervisory board in spring 2023, but resigned a few months later amid a dispute. In this respect, the manager at Baywa is now left out. Lutz had contradicted the criticism in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Source: Stern
