ELLWANGEN (dpa-AFX) - Battery group Varta is getting a new chief financial officer. Thomas Obendrauf has been appointed by the supervisory board as an additional member of the executive board and will replace Armin Hessenberger as chief financial officer on May 1, the group announced in Ellwangen on Wednesday. Hessenberger will pursue a new career, but will support the Executive Board as an advisor until the end of the year. The 52-year-old Obendrauf had previously worked, among others, as chief financial officer at the listed fiber producer Lenzing AG and at the printed circuit board manufacturer AT&S AG.

Varta is gaining an "experienced and renowned financial manager," said Markus Hackstein, spokesman for the board. His expertise, particularly in the area of efficiency enhancement and cost reduction, makes him the ideal successor to Hessenberger, in order to be able to continue his course in the realignment of the business units and in the savings programs that have been started./mne/jha/