Gelsenkirchen, 26 June 2009. Mr. Detlef Herzog resigned his office as a member of the Supervisory Board effective from the end of the Annual General Meeting on 11 August 2009.
The Supervisory Board shall propose a candidate to the Annual General Meeting to be elected as Mr. Herzog's successor. Prior to becoming a member of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Herzog was most recently the CEO of the Company and still feels a strong connection to it as one of its founders. However, he now wishes to spend more time on different professional challenges.
Mr. Herzog also made this decision in order to satisfy the requirements of the Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (German Accounting Legislation Modernisation Act), which came into force on 29 May 2009. This act requires that capital market-oriented stock corporations have an independent member of the Supervisory Board with an expert understanding of accounting and auditing. In order to meet this requirement, the Supervisory Board shall propose Mr. Georg van Hall (Graduate in Business Management, Diplom-Kaufmann), certified accountant/tax advisor, with the appropriate qualifications and experience for election at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Company.