The Supervisory Board of Leoni AG has, ahead of schedule, extended the contract of its President & CEO Dr Klaus Probst for 5 years. The new contract runs until 31 December 2014; the existing contractual agreement would have expired on 30 June 2010.

Probst (56) has been with the Leoni Group for 20 years and was appointed to its Management Board in 1997. He has been President & CEO since July 2002. A doctor in chemical engineering, he is also in charge of the Wire & Cable Solutions division, which has grown from being a manufacturer purely of wires and cables to being a potent provider of development services and systems to numerous industries. During his period in office as President & CEO, the sales of the Leoni Group grew from EUR 1.1 billion in 2002 to the most recent (2008) total of EUR 2.9 billion.

Over many years Probst pursued a resolute strategy of earnings-oriented growth across the Group – both with its own resources and through acquisitions. With the onset of the current economic crisis he, together with its Management Board colleagues, launched a comprehensive cost reduction programme as well as restructuring measures in order to rapidly adjust the Company to the altered conditions.