Nordex CFO to stand down

Nordex will replace its outgoing CFO Christopher Burkhard with the head of its European business division Ilya Hartmann

by James Agyepong-Parsons 12 January 2021

CEO of Nordex's Europe division Ilya Hartmann will take over as the company's CFO from 1 March

The chief financial officer for the Germany-based turbine manufacturer Nordex will step down next month earlier than planned amid widening losses in 2020.

Christoph Burkhard will leave the company on 28 February for "personal reasons", Nordex stated, and will "pursue new personal challenges".

He will be replaced by the head of the company's European business unit, Ilya Hartmann.

Burkhard took over Nordex鈥檚 CFO post in 2016 having previously worked for eight years as CFO across Siemens鈥 wind power divisions. According to the company鈥檚 latest press statement, his departure on 28 February is for personal reasons only.

In the first nine months of 2020 鈥 against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic 鈥 the turbine maker saw its net losses widen to 鈧107.5m and its third-quarter order totals slide by more than a quarter.听

During this time, Burkhand oversaw the completion of a 鈧350m Covid-19 aid package through the German government鈥檚 loan guarantee programme and refinanced a 鈧1.21 billion guarantee credit facility for Nordex, backed by a consortium of banks led by Banca IMI, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, HSBC, and UniCredit Bank.

According to its most recent figures, the company鈥檚 net debt amounts to 鈧492.8 million compared with 鈧84m in 2019.听

Last year, the company sold its entire 2.7GW development portfolio of European wind and solar PV projects to renewables developer RWE for 鈧400m.听

But despite market fears, Nordex鈥檚 Delta4000 turbine series helped swell the company鈥檚 order books and in November the turbine manufacturer confirmed sales of 鈧3.2bn in the first nine months of 2020.

In a statement, Dr Wolfgang Ziebart, chairman of the supervisory board of Nordex SE, said he regretted the 鈥渆arly termination鈥 of Burkhard鈥檚 contract, which had been inked 鈥渂y best mutual agreement鈥.听

He said: 鈥淢r Burkhard has contributed significantly to the successful transformation and reorientation of Nordex over the past four years. We would like to expressly thank him for his excellent work and wish him very well and much success for the future.鈥

To replace Burkhard, the company has offered the CFO role to its Europe division CEO Ilya Hartmann who has held management roles in the company since 2017 and holds a PhD in law.

Nordex鈥檚 full-year results for 2020 are due to be published in March.