Ralf Kulemeier

Head of Regional Legal Team Central & Eastern Europe, South Africa

Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany

Working for Umicore since 2001

"Right from the beginning Umicore treated the acquired PMG very prudently and respectfully."

We move people - Ralf Kulemeier by interview

Ralf Kulemeier was very closely involved in the takeover of OMG's PMG activities by Umicore in 2003 and advised the former management in Hanau as a lawyer.

"Working at Umicore is an honour for me. To be able to work in a company that is not only economically healthy but also very sustainable, with future-oriented business areas, and to be able to develop myself further by constantly taking on new challenges."

On 31 July 2003 the time had come: On this day Umicore took over the precious metals division from the previous owner OMG, the flags of the predecessor were lowered and the Belgian national flag was hoisted as a symbol of the new owner. From that moment on, the colleagues belonged to Umicore and have remained so until today.
How did you experience the weeks before the transfer of the company and the transition period?

"Not only the weeks, but already some months before July 31st were extremely exciting. It all began when our former American parent company OMG ran into economic difficulties at the end of October 2002 and it was decided to put the business units acquired from Degussa in 2001 up for sale under the name Precious Metals Group (PMG). PMG had until then been run relatively independently from Hanau and had hardly been integrated into OMG, which made the sale easier. As a lawyer, I advised the management in Hanau at the time, whose main task after October 2002 was to keep the domestic and foreign companies of the group economically alive. In this critical situation, whole mountains of documents had to be compiled for potential buyers. In addition, from March onwards, many negotiations took place at all levels between prospective buyers and PMG executives. For us in Hanau it was quickly clear that Umicore would be the best choice. Other bidders were rather unfamiliar with the industry or belonged to less favoured financial investors. Nevertheless, the sales negotiations dragged on longer than expected. It was only on June 2, 2003 that the purchase agreement between OMG and Umicore for the acquisition of PMG was signed. The approval of the legal authorities, which was necessary for formal legal reasons, finally took place at the end of July, so that legally we became part of the Umicore Group on 31 July 2003."

How did you perceive the time after that, have things changed?

"Of course, a lot changed after 31 July 2003. But right from the beginning Umicore treated the acquired PMG very prudently and respectfully. Above all, Umicore recognised the value of the many highly qualified and motivated employees and wanted to retain them. This was achieved, among other things, through the creation of matrix organisations. Instead of simply relocating as much as possible to Belgium, from now on departments were made up of employees from different nations in different locations. This also applied, among others, to Umicore's legal department, which was only located in Brussels before the PMG takeover and is now present with different regional teams. Nevertheless, Umicore has always been on the move and constantly changing over the past two decades. Numerous acquisitions of companies, but also the sale of former business units such as "Copper" and "Zinc" as well as strong organic growth of promising business areas have transformed Umicore, including the former PMG businesses, into a modern materials technology group."

A lot has certainly happened in 20 years of Umicore. Are there some anecdotes that you remember positively?

"I owe the funniest seminar of my professional life due to the takeover. It was offered a few weeks after 31 July 2003 in Germany under the title "My Belgian Colleague" and in Belgium under the title "My German Colleague". Besides facts about the neighbouring country Belgium, the differences between Flanders and Wallonia, we learned especially something about cultural differences and the habits of Belgians in business life - there were of course some stereotypes in there! One difference, for example, is that in Germany everything is planned in detail long in advance and then unflinchingly implemented. In Belgium, planning and implementation tend to coincide. It was interesting for me as a lawyer to hear that rules and laws are interpreted more flexibly in Belgium than in Germany. People tend to do everything that is not forbidden, whereas we Germans base our actions on whether something is allowed. Just like German punctuality, these are clichés that we could laugh about heartily during the seminar. From time to time, however, I have rediscovered some of the characteristics of both nationalities in meetings over the past 20 years and often had to smile inwardly."