Agfa-Gevaert Board decides on appointments and strategy

The Board has appointed Christian Reinaudo as President of the Agfa HealthCare business group and as member of the Executive Committee, effective January 1, 2008. Christian Reinaudo is 53 years old and of French nationality. A graduate from the ‘Ecole de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de Paris’ holding a doctorate from the University of Paris (France), he started his career with Alcatel in 1978. During this period, he has managed worldwide multi-billion Euro businesses and international sales and services organizations. Most recently he was Area President Europe and North for Alcatel – Lucent and responsible for managing the integration and transition process associated with the merger with Lucent Technologies.

According to a press release, the Board fully supports the work of the management on operational improvement and has therefore appointed Albert Follens as Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the Agfa-Gevaert Group. In this role, he will support Jo Cornu, CEO, in restoring the company’s operational performance. Related to this, the company is on track for realizing its objective of a net debt reduction of 75 to 100 million Euro in the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, the Board of Directors conformed its commitment to the demerger in three independent companies as the best way to create shareholder value. A phased demerger is expected to take place in the course of 2008. At the same time, the Board also asked Jo Cornu, CEO, to actively look into the expressions of interest that the company recently received.