Photo of Joakim Wohlfeil
Birgitta Forsberg of affars Valdern (translated from Swedish) March 12, 2014 reports http://www.affarsvarlden.se/hem/nyheter/article3811470.ece :
"Thyssen Krupp ask FMV stop Saab"
Kockums German owners ThyssenKrupp ask FMV stopping Saab from recruiting top people from Kockums.
n a letter to Lena Erixon, Director General for Defence Materiel Administration, [known as] FMV, asking the head of the German Thyssen Krupp Marine Division, Dr. Hans Atzpodien FMV stopping Saab from recruiting key personnel from Kockums.
Thyssen Krupp wholly owns Kockums but has for years thwarted Kockums from exporting submarines because the Germans also owns the German shipyard HDW where they would rather control the business. Recently, FMV enough of the Germans' delaying tactics when it came to ordering a Swedish Kockums and instead asked Saab to do a feasibility study on Sweden's future submarines.As a result of the Saab has recently recruited top people from Kockums and also went yesterday, Tuesday, issued a press release that the company seeking employees for its shipping division.
The letter writing Atzpodien addition to the Thyssen-Krupp
§ - will support the export of the planned Swedish submarine A26
§ - is willing to negotiate a contract to sell the A26 to Sweden
§ - is willing to offer Swedish authorities influence at board level in Kockums or at least greater transparency in company
§ - want to invest in to let Kockums produce a small submarine (up to thousand tons)
§ is willing to develop Kockums
§ - wants Kockums and HDW cooperate closer without infringing on the patents FMV own
His Atzpodien and Lena Erixon has a meeting scheduled for 18 March and it's ahead of the meeting that Atzpodien written the letter.
But the offer of influence has come before, and that the Germans want the Swedes to focus on small submarines, while the German shipyard HDW may take the major orders, are also known. According to a source, who sees the whole thing as a way to get Kockums out of the way as a competitor, there is no bigger market for small submarines. In other words, it is doubtful whether FMV soothed by letter.
The whole thing is complicated by other agreements between Kockums and FMV, including for servicing submarines.
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Joakim Wohlfeil on March 14, 2014 sent the following comment to Australia by the Indian Ocean:
"Breaking news update ;-) The Submarine war between Sweden and Germany escalates !!
SAAB has succeeded to recruit the full technical management team at Kockum, including the manager for the submarine division Per Nilsson and are now actively seeking to recruit the remaining ca. 230 engineers. (http://www.affarsvarlden.se/hem/nyheter/article3811470.ece ["Thyssen Krupp ask FMV stop Saab" see above].
According to local press in Malmö the engineers being feed up with ThyssenKrupp are joining SAAB en masse. As the Swedish government are the formal owners of the construction patent and drawings of all Swedish submarines SAAB could actually perform a hostile take-over without paying anything to ThyssenKrupp. (and this seems to happened with the blessing of the Swedish government).
2 days ago, ThyssenKrupp formally protested to the Swedish government ([the Defence Materiel Administration known as] FMV) and demanded they should stop SAAB´s hostile recruitment campaign.
In return Thyssen Krupp has offered.
- ThyssenKrupp will not block the procurement process of A26 and approve that it will be built in Sweden
- Thyssen Krupp will allow Kockums to market A26 for export (however it´s not said if the condition that HDW can see and approve Kockums export offerings will be lifted)
- Repeating the offer Sweden besides of A26 will be the new centre for small submarines (an offer that has earlier been rejected by Kockums employees and the Swedish government).
However, if Sweden suddenly seems to sit on the upside, ThyssenKrupp can answer with obstructing the upgrades and service of Swedish naval crafts that is contracted to the still ThyssenKrupp owned Kockums industriers (TKMD)"
Pete