Fresenius Medical Care names new CEO as of Jan. 1

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -German dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) said on Tuesday that Chief Executive Rice Powell would retire to be succeeded by Carla Kriwet on Jan. 1.

Powell’s retirement will come after 10 years at the company’s helm and is in line with the company’s policies on age limits.

FMC said Kriwet was most recently CEO of BSH Hausgeraete GmbH.

FMC has been cutting costs and up to 5,000 jobs globally – or about 4% of its workforce – because of a high death toll among its dialysis patients, who are more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

The world’s largest provider of dialysis treatments aims to reach annual cost cuts of 500 million euros by 2025, as it plans to replace its four regions and some global functions with two divisions: care enablement and care delivery.

Stephan Sturm, CEO of parent company Fresenius SE, in February left the door open for a future divestment of separately listed dialysis unit FMC, even after FMC forecast a return to earnings growth this year.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Additional reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Chris Reese)