Activist Cevian to stay invested at ABB as representative quits board

Investor AB

30/01/2025 11:34

ZURICH, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Activist investor Cevian
Partners will remain invested in ABB  ABBN.S , it said on
Thursday, despite the departure of managing partner Lars Forberg
from the engineering company's board.
    ABB said on Thursday that Forberg would step down after its
annual shareholder meeting on March 27, with Claudia Nemat, a
member of Deutsche Telekom's  DTEGn.DE  management board, set to
replace him.
    Forberg joined ABB's board in 2017 as Cevian mounted a
campaign for ABB to sell its underperforming power grids
business. 
    ABB eventually sold the business to Japan's Hitachi  6501.T 
in a deal announced in 2018, which valued it at $11 billion.
    "Lars has been on the board for eight years and has been
involved in developing ABB from a decent to an excellent and
extremely well-managed company," a Cevian spokesperson said.
    "We are convinced that ABB, even without Lars, will continue
to develop well and create favourable returns for shareholders,"
added the spokesperson. "ABB remains a significant investment
for Cevian."
    Cevian, which at one point was ABB's second biggest
shareholder after Sweden's Investor AB  INVEb.ST , has been
gradually reducing its holding in ABB.
    Cevian holds a stake of under 3% in ABB, the spokesperson
said. ABB on Thursday reported its highest ever full-year
revenue, operating earnings and profit margin.

 (Reporting by Oliver Hirt and John Revill. Editing by Mark
Potter)
 ((John.Revill@thomsonreuters.com; +41 41 528 36 37; Reuters
Messaging: john.revill.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))