Retiring German exec says owners won't sell out




Peter Bettermann, who is retiring after 15 years as CEO of Freudenberg, a German textiles and chemicals business with sales of 6 billion euros,

told the

Financial Times


that the owners of the company — 320 descendants of Carl Johann Freudenberg, who founded the business in 1849 — were not seeking to sell out.

“There’s no reason for anyone to want to leave [being a shareholder] in Freudenberg which is becoming more valuable by the day.”

The company was founded as a leather works and has diversified into synthetic materials, the article said.

Bettermann told the

FT

the “number one aim” was to “secure the continued existence of the company at all costs” and the second most important goal was to keep it family-owned. (Source:

Financial Times,

June 14, 2012.)

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