Cordes Emerges as CEO Candidate for Combined MAN/Scania

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

ckhard Cordes, formerly head of DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedes division, has emerged as the top chief executive candidate for the truck manufacturer that would be formed by a MAN/Scania merger, Bloomberg said, citing reports from German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung received the information from unidentified investors, Bloomberg said.

Cordes is currently head of Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH, the holding company for German drug wholesaler Celesio AG, Bloomberg reported.

Stephan Schaller, who is slated to take over the commercial vehicles division of German automaker Volkswagen AG, was also named as a possible CEO for the combined MAN/Scania, Bloomberg said.

In September, MAN offered to purchase rival truck maker Scania for $12 billion, prompting Volkswagen, which controls 34% of Scania’s voting rights, to snap up a 15.1% stake in MAN in October. Volkswagen wants the possible MAN/Scania merger to include its own heavy-duty truck operations in Brazil. (Click here for previous coverage.)

In a separate story, Bloomberg reported Thursday that MAN earned about $414 million or $1.76 a share in the third quarter as sales rose 18% to about $4.21 billion.

The German truck maker also increased its share in Scania to 14.54% of the Swedish company’s voting rights, Bloomberg said.

MAN had purchased a 14.3% stake in Scania in mid October, seeking greater leverage in its efforts to sell its Swedish rival on the merits of an alliance. (Click here for previous coverage.)