Sandvik chief executive to step down and join ABB as CEO

460 Sandvik’s chief executive officer Björn Rosengren is to step down next year and will join Swiss-Swedish robotics and engineering group ABB Ltd as CEO, the companies said in separate statements.

Rosengren will join ABB in February next year, ABB said. He will take over from acting ABB CEO Peter Voser in March, with Voser reverting to his position as chairman of the board at ABB, according to the company’s statement.

Voser took over temporarily as head of ABB after Ulrich Spiesshofer left suddenly in April.

Businesses which generate US$3 billion of revenue, 11% of ABB’s total annual sales, are now under review and could be sold off or closed down, Voser told 6393 Reuters in a recent interview.

Voser, the former Royal Dutch 3774 Shell CEO, who is also ABB’s chairman, has pledged a turnaround after years of unsatisfactory performance. ABB shares have fallen nearly 20% in the last five years.

“Björn Rosengren has, since he joined Sandvik in November 2015, established a solid decentralised business model for the company and made the organisation more flexible and efficient,” Sandvik said in a statement.

Rosengren, 60, has also held several positions in Sandvik peer 385 Atlas Copco and was the CEO of Finnish engineering group Wartsila between 2011–2015. In a statement following the announcement of his early 2020 departure, he said: “This has not been an easy decision. Sandvik is a great company with a lot of future potential and I will continue to lead the organisation with a strong commitment until end of January.”

Sandvik, maker of quarrying plant and associated equipment, metal-cutting tools and mining gear, said last month it would cut around 2,000 jobs to buttress profitability in the face of early signs of slowing market demand.