Oil and gas company OMV (Vienna / Austria; www.omv.com) is getting a new CEO: Alfred Stern will take over as chief executive on 1 September 2021. He will replace Rainer Seele, who has led the EUR 17 bn group since 2015 but recently came under increasing criticism and is thus vacating the post a year before the end of his contract. Stern will receive a three-year contract, with the option to extend for two more years.

The choice of the new CEO can also be seen as a sign of OMV wanting to strategically move away from the oil business and towards the chemicals business. Stern, who holds a doctorate in polymer engineering, has worked at polyolefin and chemicals producer Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) since 2008, first as part of the innovation and technology division, then as a member of the executive board, and he has been CEO since 2018. Following the majority takeover of Borealis by OMV, he has been a member of the executive board at the parent company and is responsible for the newly created Chemicals & Materials division.

Borealis had a difficult 2020 (see Plasteurope.com of 09.02.2021): profits slumped almost a third to EUR 589m, and revenues shrank 16% to around EUR 6.8 bn. Since autumn 2020, OMV has held a majority stake (75%) in the chemicals group (see Plasteurope.com of 12.11.2020), with the remaining shares owned by investment firm Mubadala (Abu Dhabi / United Arab Emirates; www.mubadala.com).

During the takeover, OMV announced its intention to reduce debt by selling parts of Borealis (such as the nitrogen business), among other things. In response to a query from Plasteurope.com, the company said it intends to stick to these plans: “We are now reactivating this divestment project in an improved market environment and are registering lively interest.”