At its meeting on April 26, the Supervisory Board of Messer SE & Co. KGaA completed the planned change in management at the world's largest privately managed specialist for industrial, medical and specialty gases. In the year of the company's 125th anniversary, Stefan Messer is stepping down as Chairman of the Management Board and thus operational management of Messer and moving to the head of the Supervisory Board on April 27. The long-time chairman of the supervisory board, Dr. Jürgen Heraeus is now an honorary member of the committee. At the same time, the previous Deputy CEO Bernd Eulitz was appointed the new Chairman of the Board of Management of Messer with immediate effect. In addition to Bernd Eulitz, the Management Board also includes Helmut Kaschenz as Chief Financial Officer and Virginia Esly as Chief Operating Officer Europe.

 

The new chairman of the supervisory board, Stefan Messer, a third-generation shareholder, has been at the helm of Messer since 2004, when he brought the company back into full family ownership after an existential crisis. Under his leadership, Messer developed back into a relevant competitor in the market for industrial gases, which was otherwise characterized by large international corporations. One of the milestones in this regard in 2019 was the acquisition of key activities from Linde and Praxair in North and South America together with the financial investor CVC Capital Partners as part of the merger of these two companies. The acquired parts of the business were combined with the majority of Messer's activities in Western Europe in the Messer Industries joint venture, which has since been managed industrially as a separate unit by Messer. Messer's declared goal is to fully integrate the joint venture into the Messer Group and thus create a family-run, global gases group.

 

Stefan Messer explains the change in management that has now taken place: “Our industrial gases business has developed extremely well in recent years. We have thus created a very good basis for opening the next successful chapter in Messer's 125-year history. In the coming years it will be a question of realizing our full potential as a customer and value-oriented player in global competition. With his extensive experience in the gases business and as a responsible, honest leader, Bernd Eulitz is predestined to successfully shape the future of Messer in this spirit together with his strong management team and the loyal international workforce.”

 

Bernd Eulitz joined the Messer Group at the beginning of 2022 as Deputy Chairman of the Management Board. Previously, he was CEO of a German MDax company. Bernd Eulitz has more than 20 years of experience in the industrial gases sector. Among other things, he held various management positions in Germany and abroad at competitor Linde, where he was also a member of the Executive Board from 2015 to 2019.

 

On his appointment as CEO of Messer, Bernd Eulitz said: “I would like to thank the Supervisory Board and Stefan Messer in particular for the trust they have placed in me. He shaped the company for decades and made Messer what it is today: an economically sound, highly respected, family-oriented and globally active company whose success is based not least on a solid foundation of values. We have the best prerequisites for implementing an ambitious growth strategy in the coming years – while maintaining our unique corporate culture and financial solidity – and, as the world’s largest private company, to become the dynamic challenger number 1 of the large corporations in our industry.”

 

dr Jürgen Heraeus, who has chaired the Supervisory Board of Messer since it was founded voluntarily in 2004 and will continue to support the company in an advisory capacity, said: "Over the past two decades, Messer has become a real success story for German family companies. I am convinced that the strong alliance between the owner family and the Management Board will lead the company into an economically sound and innovative future.”