(Reuters) – The holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family has overseen a shakeup at the top of two of its major industrial groups, with Scott Wine quitting his post as CEO of farm and construction machinery group CNH to be replaced by Iveco boss Gerrit Marx.
The two companies said on Sunday Marx will replace Wine from July 1. Turin-based Iveco said it had appointed board member Olof Persson as its new CEO.
Iveco and CNH are both controlled by the Agnellis’ Exor. Iveco Group’s current market capitalisation amounts to around 3.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion), less than one fourth that of CNH.
A German national, Marx guided Iveco, the Italian bus and truck maker, through its spin-off from then parent CNH, which was finalised at the beginning of 2022, and through its first years as a stand-alone company.
Iveco shares doubled their value between November and the beginning of this month, before slightly correcting later in April.
By contrast, CNH shares lost more than 30% of their value since highs touched last year, when it cut its revenue forecast and announced a plan to reduce its workforce, citing softening demand for its farm machinery.
CNH said Wine was leaving the company to pursue other interests, and that the board had accepted his request to leave at the end of the current three-year business plan cycle.
Amid the Iveco spin-off, CNH has increasingly focused its business on precision agriculture, including with the acquisition of U.S. group Raven Industries in 2021.
CNH recently completed a plan to drop its New York and Milan double listing and focus on a U.S.-only listing set-up.
Marx had last month presented Iveco’s new business plan targeting a 20% bump in revenue by 2028.
Persson, a 59 year old Swede, has covered in his career executive positions in several manufacturing companies, including CEO at Iveco’s competitor Volvo Group.
He has been closely involved in the development of the group’s recently presented business plan, Iveco said in its statement.
CNH also said its board had decided that its Investor Day scheduled for May 21 would be postponed to allow Marx to lead the company’s planning and objectives for the next phase of its development
($1 = 0.9386 euros)
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; Editing by Frances Kerry and David Holmes)
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