ZUG, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced that, in accordance with the company's previously disclosed succession plan, J. Kent Masters, 50, has assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Foster Wheeler AG.
As previously announced, Masters succeeds Umberto della Sala, 63, who had been serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer and who continues to serve as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer and as CEO of the company’s Global Engineering and Construction Group. Masters will stand for election to the company’s board of directors at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Foster Wheeler AG to be held on November 1, 2011.
“As I have said previously, we have complete confidence in Kent to drive the company to reach its full potential, and we are very pleased to have Umberto in his continuing role as Chief Operating Officer to assist in this process,” said Raymond J. Milchovich, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Foster Wheeler AG.
Masters said, "I expect to see the company grow into an even more vibrant organization as we continue to find ways to differentiate ourselves from our competitors while maintaining our commitment to meet or exceed client expectations regarding commercial and execution excellence, safety and quality.”
Masters had most recently served as a member of the Executive Board at the Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company.
Separately, the company also announced that Steven J. Demetriou, 53, has been named Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective November 4, 2011. Demetriou will succeed Milchovich, 61, who has served as Non-Executive Chairman since June 2010 and who, as previously announced, has elected to leave the Board of Directors effective November 3. Demetriou is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aleris International, Inc., a producer of aluminum products. He has served as a member of Foster Wheeler’s Board of Directors since 2008.
“In naming Steve as the Non-Executive Chairman, the board has made an outstanding choice, recognizing Steve’s broad and diverse experience, sound judgment, and excellent leadership skills,” said Milchovich.
Foster Wheeler AG is a global engineering and construction contractor and power equipment supplier delivering technically advanced, reliable facilities and equipment. The company employs approximately 12,000 talented professionals with specialized expertise dedicated to serving its clients through one of its two primary business groups. The company’s Global Engineering and Construction Group designs and constructs leading-edge processing facilities for the upstream oil and gas, LNG and gas-to-liquids, refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, power, mining and metals, environmental, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare industries. The company’s Global Power Group is a world leader in combustion and steam generation technology that designs, manufactures and erects steam generating and auxiliary equipment for power stations and industrial facilities and also provides a wide range of aftermarket services. The company is based in Zug, Switzerland, and its operational headquarters office is in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information about Foster Wheeler, please visit our Web site at www.fwc.com.
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Foster Wheeler AG news releases may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management’s assumptions, expectations and projections about the Company and the various industries within which the Company operates. These include statements regarding the Company’s expectations about revenues (including as expressed by its backlog), its liquidity, the outcome of litigation and legal proceedings and recoveries from customers for claims and the costs of current and future asbestos claims and the amount and timing of related insurance recoveries. Such forward-looking statements by their nature involve a degree of risk and uncertainty. The Company cautions that a variety of factors, including but not limited to the factors described in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the following, could cause the Company’s business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained in forward-looking statements: benefits, effects or results of the Company’s redomestication or the relocation of our principal executive offices to Geneva, Switzerland; the benefits, effects or results of our strategic renewal initiative; further deterioration in global economic conditions, changes in investment by the oil and gas, oil refining, chemical/petrochemical and power generation industries, changes in the financial condition of its customers, changes in regulatory environments, changes in project design or schedules, contract cancellations, changes in estimates made by the Company of costs to complete projects, changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies worldwide, compliance with laws and regulations relating to its global operations, currency fluctuations, war and/or terrorist attacks on facilities either owned by the Company or where equipment or services are or may be provided by the Company, interruptions to shipping lanes or other methods of transit, outcomes of pending and future litigation, including litigation regarding the Company’s liability for damages and insurance coverage for asbestos exposure, protection and validity of its patents and other intellectual property rights, increasing global competition, compliance with its debt covenants, recoverability of claims against its customers and others by the Company and claims by third parties against the Company, and changes in estimates used in its critical accounting policies. Other factors and assumptions not identified above were also involved in the formation of these forward-looking statements and the failure of such other assumptions to be realized, as well as other factors, may also cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Most of these factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the Company’s control. You should consider the areas of risk described above in connection with any forward-looking statements that may be made by the Company. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any additional disclosures the Company makes in proxy statements, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.