Deutsche Post gets new boss

Deutsche Post logistics and international mail head Frank Appel took over as chief executive and pledged to focus on its loss-making US business and retail bank Deutsche Postbank.

Appel, 46, became CEO following unanimous approval from Post's supervisory board on Monday, Post said in a statement, after former Chief Executive Klaus Zumwinkel resigned amid a tax-evasion probe. Appel's contract runs until Oct 31, 2012.

The new CEO planned to "seek a solution for Postbank and the US business with urgency", he told reporters shortly after his appointment was announced.

The supervisory body also agreed to extend the contract of Chief Financial Officer John Allan by two years until the end of 2010, Post said.

"The good news is that the contract of the CFO has been extended, so that gives some continuity," Morgan Stanley analyst Menno Sanderse said.

"Those are the only two things that matter," Sanderse added following Appel's comments on Postbank and the DHL business in the United States.

Zumwinkel came under intense pressure to step down after German prosecutors said last Thursday that he was suspected of dodging about 1 million euros in taxes by transferring money to tax haven Liechtenstein.

And police investigating large-scale tax evasion linked to the principality meanwhile raided homes and offices across Germany on Monday as the tax-evasion scandal threatened to ensnare hundreds of rich Germans.

Zumwinkel had led Deutsche Post for 18 years and become a pillar of Germany's corporate establishment.

The 64-year-old's contract had been due to run out in November this year.

The multi-millionaire and former McKinsey partner transformed Deutsche Post from a sleepy state monopoly to a global mail, logistics and finance group and sought to reduce Post's dependence on its domestic mail business by expanding its DHL express and logistics divisions and through acquisitions.

But he struggled to reverse losses at DHL Express in the United States, and late last year signaled he could sell Postbank.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/20/2008 page17)