German construction firm Hochtief has announced the promotion of deputy head of investor relations Ulrike Kröner to the position of head of IR.
She takes over from former head of IR Dr Lars Petzold, who has moved to take on other responsibilities within the company.
Kröner is a business graduate of the University of Saarland and has been with Hochtief’s IR department for 10 years.
Prior to this, she worked in investor relations for telecommunications and engineering group Mannesmann, subsequently joining Vodafone’s IR team in the UK after the mobile phone group took over the German company in 2000.
She was once again involved in a takeover last year when Spanish construction company ACS succeeded in gaining a majority stake in Hochtief.
ACS, chaired by prominent businessman and soccer club Real Madrid owner Florentino Pérez, was heavily indebted and suffering from the collapse of the Spanish construction market.
Hochtief is the world’s eighth-largest construction-related services group and owns Australian contractor Leighton, which has extensive operations in Asia and the Middle East.
