Arthur Higgins to quit as CEO of Bayer Healthcare; Marijin Dekkers to be Bayer group CEO

Arthur Higgins (aged 52) has decided, at his own request, to leave Germany's Bayer Group during the first half of 2010 for personal reasons. Mr Higgins, a Scotsman who is currently president of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations, was appointed chairman of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee on July 1, 2004, and has been chief executive of Bayer HealthCare AG since January 1, 2006.

Meantime, Werner Wenning, Bayer AG CEO since 2002, is to extend his contract of service by eight months to September 30, 2010, a few weeks before his 64th birthday. In its meeting on Tuesday, Bayer's Supervisory Board appointed Netherlands-born Marijn Dekkers, currently president and CEO of US laboratory equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific, to succeed Mr Wenning as CEO from October 1, 2010. Dr Dekkers will join the Bayer Management Board on January 1, 2010. In a transition phase he will also serve as CEO of Bayer HealthCare, succeeding Mr Higgins .

In other moves, following the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on April 30, 2010, the present chief financial officer, Klaus Kuhn, will take early retirement at the age of 58. The Supervisory Board has appointed Werner Baumann (46), currently a member of both the Board of Management and Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare, to be Mr Kuhn's successor. Mr Baumann will also join the Bayer Management Board on January 1, 2010.