Siemens on Sunday ended weeks of leadership confusion at Europe’s largest engineering group by naming Peter Löscher, the number two manager at US drugs group Merck, as its new chief executive. Mr Löscher, a 49-year-old Austrian with extensive experience in the pharmaceuticals industry, takes over at Siemens on July 1 as the German conglomerate faces on-going corporate bribery scandals. Last month, the scandal caused the resignations of the chief executive and chairman. The appointment means the top two officials at the industrial group will be drawn from outside Siemens for the first time since the group was set up in 1847. Gerhard Cromme, the new supervisory board chairman, believes that Siemens needs a “new start” to overcome the escalating corruption investigations by European prosecutors and the US SEC.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 5:21 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with peter loescher, siemens. Edit this entry.