At the meeting of the voestalpine AG Supervisory Board, the unanimous vote ushered in a changing of the guard on the management board and set the course for a more efficient Group structure.

The Automotive and Profilform divisions, which had been managed separately, will be merged to form a single division. This step is accompanied by a change in the management board that was preceded by a lengthy period of preparation.

Mr Herbert Eibensteiner will take over as head of the new division, succeeding Mr Wolfgang Spreitzer (head of the Profilform Division) and Mr Franz Hirschmanner (head of the Automotive Division).

In accordance with the resolution by the voestalpine Supervisory Board, the organizational and personnel changes will take effect as of the beginning of the business year 2012-13 or as of April 1st 2012. The detailed organization of the new division will be approved at the next meeting of the Supervisory Board in late March, 2012. In the future, the capabilities of voestalpine will no longer be divided among five divisions of very different size but will be bundled in four divisions of almost equal size. Merging the two divisions will generate a number of synergy effects. These divisions have already worked together closely in the past in research and development. Thus it will be possible to service important customer segments in a more coordinated way in the future, in particular, the automobile industry and the energy sector.

Dr Wolfgang Eder CEO of voestalpine anticipates that the divisional merger will provide significant momentum for further growth in these particular sectors that have excellent future prospects. He added that "The newly created division will be even more active on the global markets than before as we are now optimally equipped for this task. Furthermore, in Mr Herbert Eibensteiner, we have been able to attract a manager who is experienced both within the Group and in international issues as the newest member of our Management Board who will be succeeding our colleagues Mr Spreitzer and Mr Hirschmanner who have provided such outstanding leadership."

The two members of the Management Board, Mr Wolfgang Spreitzer and Mr Franz Hirschmanner, are retiring from the board at the end of March on the best of terms and will continue to be active on behalf of the Group. Mr Wolfgang Spreitzer will assist his successor in an advisory role in various functions on the Supervisory Board for another twelve months. Mr Franz Hirschmanner will make his expertise available to the Management Board for new projects for another two years.

Dr Eder said that "Both members of the Management Board performed very successfully for voestalpine for more than 30 years. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for their outstanding work as division heads and, personally, for our successful cooperation on the Management Board."