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02.07.2014

Telefónica Deutschland supervisory board nominates future management

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  • Thorsten Dirks nominated as new CEO
  • Markus Haas in charge for all joint operations as COO
  • Rachel Empey takes responsibility for finance and strategy as CFO
  • Munich remains headquarters of the company
Munich. In the context of today’s conditional clearance by the European Commission of the acquisition of E-Plus Group by Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG, the supervisory board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG has resolved in today’s meeting the conclusion of a management board agreement with Thorsten Dirks as future CEO. The 51-year old, current board member of KPN and CEO of E-Plus will take over his office with the closing of the acquisition of the E-Plus group by Telefónica Deutschland Holding.
The future Management consisting of Thorsten Dirks, Markus Haas and Rachel Empey will lead the company after closing of the acquisition, which is expected during Q3. The supervisory board of Telefonica Deutschland has nominated with Thorsten Dirks, Markus Haas and Rachel Empey a management with huge experience as well as proven strength of leadership. They form the best team to build a leading digital telco and with this nomination the supervisory board proves that the strengths of both companies will be combined. Thorsten Dirks: "I very much look forward to creating the powerful new force in the German telecoms market together with my fellow Executive Board members and the employees of both companies. Together we will consequently seize the opportunities offered by a rapidly changing market." Headquarters of the company remains Munich. A decision about the future development of the individual locations will be made in the period after closing.
Thorsten Dirks studied engineering. He has worked in several telecommunication companies, since 1996 he has been with E-Plus. There he has held several management positions and is CEO since 2007. Since 2011 he has also been member of the management board of KPN.
Markus Haas studied law (Volljurist). He has worked for Telefonica since 1998 in different leading management positions. Since 2009 he became a Managing Director and as Chief Strategy Officer he has been a member of the management board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG since 2012. Rachel Empey studied mathematics. She has worked since 2004 in different leading positions for Telefonica. As CFO she has been a member of the management board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG since 2012.
Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG, listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the Prime Standard, and its wholly-owned, operationally active subsidiary Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG is part of the Spanish telecommunication group Telefónica S.A. headquartered in Madrid. The company offers its German private and business customers post-paid and prepaid mobile telecom products as well as innovative mobile data services based on the GPRS, UMTS and LTE technologies with its product brand O2. In addition, the integrated communications provider also offers DSL fixed network telephony and high-speed Internet. With a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base of more than 313 million accesses, Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies around the world.