The crisis-ridden copper company Aurubis has finally found a new leadership. The supervisory board appointed Toralf Haag as the new CEO, who will succeed the departing Roland Harings starting in September, the company announced on Thursday.

The 60-year-old Haag, currently the CEO of the technology group Voith, was already CFO at Aurubis from 2002 to 2005, which was then known as Norddeutsche Affinerie AG. Additionally, starting in September, Tim Kurth will serve as Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the primary copper business. Kurth currently manages the operations of Aurubis' Bulgarian subsidiary.

The new appointment follows a January decision to replace three out of four board members after a scandal involving large-scale copper theft at the Hamburg plant. Back in May, Mercedes manager Steffen Hoffmann was introduced as the new Chief Financial Officer.

The selection process was lengthy. According to Handelsblatt, there were three candidates left in the running for the top position. Favorite Agnes Ritter, former Chief Transformation Officer at the Russian steel company Severstal, was not shortlisted due to her connections to Russia.

Here is the translation for the provided heading and the following paragraph:

"The new leadership team is expected to ensure stability and a cultural change. In the summer of 2023, an inventory audit at the Hamburg plant revealed a shortage of metals worth a nine-figure amount in euros. Organized gangs had defrauded Aurubis by a total of 169 million euros by manipulating samples. The suspicion was directed towards scrap suppliers and their own employees."

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The board was subsequently accused of negligence in their duty of care by the supervisory body. This led to the announcement that they would part ways with three board members, while Recycling Chief Inge Hofkens remained in her position.

There were power struggles between the main shareholder Salzgitter, who holds 29.9 percent of the shares, and the Aurubis board. A possible takeover by Salzgitter was also on the table, but was denied at the general meeting.

Insiders report that the company's structures have been disrupted for years and frequent personnel changes have demoralized not only the employees but also the management. "A change in corporate culture is needed now – starting at the top of the company," emphasized an insider.

With Toralf Haag as the new CEO and a newly restructured board, the group aims to finally restore calm and regain the trust of employees and investors.