LANXESS, the German chemicals company, has named multiple IR Magazine Award winner Oliver Stratmann as its new CFO, effective September 1.
He will take over from Michael Pontzen, LANXESS’ CFO since 2015, who is leaving the company to pursue a new role.
Stratmann joined LANXESS in 2004 as IR manager and four years later became head of the department. Since 2015, he has served as head of treasury and IR.
During his time at LANXESS, he has overseen a period of huge success at the IR Magazine Awards ‒ Europe.
The company has won best overall IR (across different market-cap categories) on five occasions, including three years in a row between 2010 and 2012.
Stratmann himself has also enjoyed personal success, taking home the prize for best IR officer five times, with his latest win coming in 2019.
IR excellence
More recently, the day-to-day operations of the IR team have been managed by Eva Frerker, who was promoted to the position of head of IR in November last year.
Under her captaincy, LANXESS’ success at the IR Magazine Awards ‒ Europe has continued: this year, the company won best investor event (mid-cap) and received four other nominations.
‘I am very happy that we have a strong internal successor in Oliver and would like to welcome him to the board of management,’ comments Matthias Zachert, LANXESS CEO, in a statement.
‘The chemical industry is facing extreme challenges – so it’s good that we have an experienced colleague joining the board who knows the markets and the company extremely well.’
Outgoing CFO Pontzen also started his time at LANXESS in the IR team. He joined in 2004 as head of the department and later served as head of corporate finance and corporate controlling.
Prior to joining LANXESS, he held IR roles at manufacturer MAN and aerospace company EADS, now known as Airbus.
Valuable skills
Speaking to IR Magazine, Stratmann says working in IR provides valuable experience for future CFOs.
‘The LANXESS board of management, CEO and CFO have historically paid a lot of attention to communications with the capital markets, to investors on the equity and fixed income side alike and of course to analysts,’ he says.
‘It’s always been important to us to gather feedback from the markets and actively communicate our strategy and operational developments – whether positive or negative.
‘Against this backdrop, I think one required aspect of the role of a CFO, next to many other important tasks and required skills, is the ability to communicate, and experience in this field undoubtedly helps in a difficult economic situation such as the one everyone is currently going through.’
This article was updated to include comments from Stratmann
