OMV, Telekom, Verbund – State holding: Which course the new boss is taking

It was more than turbulent what happened around the state holding company ÖBAG before Thomas Schmid left. In the meantime, calm has returned, the new ÖBAG boss Edith Hlawati has proven to be a rock in the surf in turbulent times. As a highly regarded lawyer, she has known the individual companies for decades, be it because she drafted important contracts, supervised IPOs or charted the course in the supervisory board. In the large “Krone” interview with the deputy Editor-in-Chief Georg Wailand outlined her first experiences and plans for the future.

The state-owned ÖBAG, which includes shares in OMV (31.5 percent), Telekom Austria (28.4 percent), Post (52.9 percent), Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (100 percent), Casinos Austria (33.2 percent), belonging to the association (51 percent) etc., had a reputation in the past of being crushed in the clutches of politics.

The experienced and respected Edith Hlawati is unimpressed. Their motto: “Out with party politics, in with compliance” means: The strictest factual criteria for the selection of members of the supervisory board: “Since I took office in February, we have issued or extended 29 supervisory board mandates, which are working on the based on a matrix, which determines the criteria. This was fully accepted by everyone and there was no attempt to influence them. We will consistently continue along this line.”

It was not at the expense of the state, which received 766 million euros in dividend. An achievement that Hlawati positively attributes to her predecessors. But in the future: will ÖBAG also take over other companies? Hlawati: “There is a participation committee where this is discussed. Our focus is that we want to protect location-relevant companies from a sell-off. ÖBAG may appear as a white knight at one time or another. But we don’t have an offensive strategy there.”

For smaller innovative companies there is also the opportunity – with proven business models and positive results – to protect them from a sell-off. Hlawati: “The state can veto acquisitions of non-EU companies, three quarters of the 70 bans affected investors from the US, so a lot of know-how would have migrated.” The “war chest” for securing a location is well stocked at 1.1 billion euros.

But the “super profits” of the energy companies, Doctor? Some argue for more nationalizations? Hlawati: “I don’t think much about further nationalization at the moment, it makes no sense and has not been thought through to the end. Verbund, for example, will be our flagship renewable energy and will invest $1 billion in each of these projects over the next three years. Our goal is to increase the annual dividend.”