Thyssenkrupp plans to install Daimler CFO as chairman - sources

FRANKFURT, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp will

propose Daimler's outgoing Chief Financial Officer

Bodo Uebber as a candidate for its supervisory board, with the

aim of installing him as chairman, two sources familiar with the

matter said on Monday.

Daimler and Thyssenkrupp declined to comment.

Uebber could be proposed as a supervisory board candidate

when the board meets on Nov. 20, a day ahead of the release of

the company's annual results, one of the sources said.

The board could then elect him as chairman, though his

appointment would have to be endorsed by shareholders, probably

at Thyssenkrupp's next annual general meeting on Feb. 1 next

year.

It was unclear when Uebber would be expected to take over as

chairman. Current chair Bernhard Pellens, a board member since

2005, took over the role at the end of September but can only

stay on until 2020 under German corporate governance rules.

Uebber has a lot of restructuring experience, having been a

core part of Daimler's management team that nursed Mercedes-Benz

back to health following a messy divorce from Chrysler.

In 1998, Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp for US$36 billion

in a deal promising at least a billion in synergies within the

first year, hyping the combination as the birth of "a child with

extraordinary genes and extraordinary potential".

The level of synergies between volume carmakers and premium

brands proved less successful than the companies had hoped.

In 2007, Daimler sold an 80 per cent stake in Chrysler to

private equity for 5.5 billion euros, arguing that unwinding the

merger was the best way to create "the greatest overall value -

both for Daimler and Chrysler."

More recently Uebber has been the architect of a new

corporate structure for Daimler which allows the carmaker

greater flexibility to list individual divisions, like Daimler

Trucks.

Thyssenkrupp is in the process of overseeing a corporate

breakup which sees a listing of one of its main divisions as a

strategic goal.

Daimler said in October that Uebber would leave the carmaker

after it appointed Ola Kaellenius as chief executive, a position

for which Uebber had been a contender.

German daily Handelsblatt was first to report that Uebber is

a candidate for Thyssenkrupp chairman, citing industry sources.

REUTERS