BERLIN -- The CEO of Leoni, Aldo Kamper, who led the German cable and wire harness supplier through a crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine is leaving the company.
Kamper will move to semiconductor manufacturer AMS Osram as its new CEO on March 31, Leoni said in a statement.
Disruption to supplies of wire harnesses produced in Leoni's Ukraine factories forced Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz to drastically reduce production in Germany last year.
Kamper said the reason for his departure is a job offer he could not refuse.
"I would have liked to complete the restructuring of this promising company as CEO," Kamper said in the statement. "However, the challenge presented to me is the logical continuation of my professional career. I could not say no to that."
Leoni said its supervisory board would immediately start talks to arrange for Kamper's replacement.
AMS Osram announced Kamper's appointment as CEO on Monday. He replaces Alexander Everke, who served as the company's CEO for seven years.
AMS, an Austrian sensor specialist, which supplies Apple with sensors for iPhones, acquired Osram in 2019 as part of its strategy to become a leader in integrated sensors and lights with a focus on self-driving cars.
Kamper, a Dutchman, previously worked for AMS Osram. After graduating, he worked in various positions at the company, starting in 1994.
"I very much regret that Mr. Kamper is leaving the company," said Klaus Rinnerberger, chairman of Leoni's supervisory board. "He took over Leoni in a difficult situation and led it through extremely challenging times. Brought in to manage planned growth, he proved himself as a crisis manager."
Kamper's contract, which had already been extended in 2021, ran until 2026. He joined Leoni in 2018 and had managed several crises, most recently the cable harness bottleneck in Ukraine and the collapsed sale of the cable division.
Leoni had started off the year by strengthening its management board and bringing in Hans-Joachim Ziems as its chief restructuring officer.
After the sale of the cable division to the Thai Stark Corporation fell through in December, Ziems was hired to lead the negotiations with the company's own lenders on a refinancing and restructuring concept.
The board said Ziems would continue to conduct these negotiations. The company initially left open whether he will also have to step in as CEO on a transitional basis.
Ziems was already a member of the Leoni board as chief restructuring officer from 2020 to 2021 and was considered number two behind Kamper at the time.
His central task now is to find a new boss for the Nuremberg-based company.
In July, Kamper told the Automotive News Europe Congress that there will be more standardization of wire harnesses and discussed the impact the Russian-led war in Ukraine had on the company's business.
