From the rolling hills of Tuscany, some of the difficulties in faraway Germany may seem a little less sharp. But there are tasks that have to be completed, and Wolfgang Reitzle doesn’t want to let anything slide in the last few meters of his professional life. The 76-year-old captain of industry has created a retirement retreat near the town of Lucca in Italy: a winery with a historic villa that he lives in with his wife, the former television presenter Nina Ruge. Soon he wants to dedicate himself entirely to viticulture – but first he is pushing ahead with the split-up of the automotive supplier Continental in Hanover. Reitzle has headed the supervisory board of the traditional company, founded in 1871, for a good decade and a half. Conti has recently barely emerged from the crisis because the conglomerate, which has grown over decades, has found it increasingly difficult to assert itself in the competition. The answer is destruction. The drive and electronics divisions have already been spun off, and the industrial rubber business will follow as quickly as possible this year. Once this step has been taken, what remains is a pure tire manufacturer that Reitzle hopes will be more successful again with a clear business model. The division of the DAX group is also a sign for the automotive industry: Anyone who doesn’t concentrate on the essentials will get lost in the fight for the future. Caught in their own diversity Those responsible in Hanover actually had completely different ideas when they continued to expand into new business areas in the 1990s. According to the plan at the time, Conti was to become an “integrated automotive supplier” that offered everything from a single source, from winter tires to electronic sensors. Billions flowed into acquisitions, and after the controversial entry of the billionaire Schaeffler family around 2008, the company rushed from one record to the next for a while. The global car markets grew and Conti became a star in the DAX. But when the tailwind died down and the corona pandemic brought the company to a screeching halt, a company was left behind that was caught up in its diversity. Thousands of jobs were cut and entire locations were closed. At the same time, the pressure to separate the parts of the company grew, a path that the former BMW and Ford manager Reitzle had already taken elsewhere. At the industrial gases manufacturer Linde, he first spun off the forklift truck business and later merged the group with the American competitor Praxair. There was also a change in the logic of the capital markets behind this: investors today prefer “pure play” companies that are clearly positioned in their respective businesses. Siemens was also reorganized according to this pattern and Daimler AG was divided into a car manufacturer and a truck manufacturer. In the case of Conti, the unions are still skeptical to this day. They supported some of the cuts, fought against others, and often took a dim view of management. Many of their accusations are understandable: The strategy changes and restructuring loops often seemed headless, and the Schaeffler family of shareholders and their confidant Reitzle were unable to find a course for far too long. More on the topic However, no argument against the split can be derived from this – at least not from the investors’ point of view. On the contrary: for the capital market it is the first step in a long time that works. The electronics division Aumovio, which was separated last year, and today’s Continental AG have a higher valuation on the stock exchange than in the previous constellation. If the industrial rubber division, Contitech, is sold, the pure tire business can hope for an even better market assessment – just as the capital market also grants other focused tire manufacturers. The separation of the Vitesco drive division had previously brought gains for the shareholders; It now belongs entirely to the automotive supplier Schaeffler. In the hurricane that is sweeping through the automotive industry, there is no gentle conversion. The industry is being remeasured from the ground up – through electromobility, software and competitors from China who make quicker decisions, produce more cheaply and rely more consistently on their own strengths. Those who primarily preserve structures in this environment are only postponing the decline. Instead of salvation, there is a threat of mere infirmity. For Reitzle, the renovation marks the end of his professional career, for Conti it marks the hope of a new era.
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