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Dual leadership for OYSTAR

Global packaging machine manufacturer OYSTAR will be headed up by two executives: the Supervisory Board of OYSTAR Holding GmbH has appointed Markus Ehl and Barry W. Shoulders as Co-CEOs replacing previous CEO Tom Graf who left the company at the end of March.

Both managers have several decades of management experience in the packaging industry and in the company. Ehl has been with OYSTAR Group for the past eight years and previously held the position of COO as a member of the Executive Board.

Shoulders, with 25 years of experience in the industry, previously held the position of President OYSTAR North America and was a member of the Executive Board.

Ehl underlined, "The change in management will not alter the successful OYSTAR strategy. We will continue to focus on the Packaging business in the future, pursuing our growth strategy."

The OYSTAR Group had divested its Process division at the beginning of the previous year in order to concentrate on packaging machinery for the food, dairy, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Significant growth was achieved in all four divisions in 2011.

Shoulders added, "And we continue to be ambitious. With the consistent continuation of our product strategy we aim to achieve sales of EUR 500m by 2015 with a considerable double-digit EBIT margin." OYSTAR had announced its annual results for 2011 just a few weeks before with a 10% increase in operating earnings. In addition to their new positions the two managers will, in future, also manage business units.

Ehl will be responsible for the Dairy and Pharmaceuticals business units, while Shoulders will oversee the Consumer and Food business units. They will continue to be supported by Dr. Josef Spieler as CFO and Dieter Steinbach as CMO.
 

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