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Stay on Corporate siteKONE Corporation, stock exchange release, June 5, 2012 at 8.45 EET
KONE's management structure for its geographical areas will change as of July 1, 2012. This change will be made to reflect the rapid growth of the elevator and escalator market in Asia-Pacific, especially in China.
Following the change, KONE's business in China will be separated from the current Asia-Pacific area. The new Greater China area will comprise of Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. William B. Johnson, who has been the country manager of China since 2004, has been appointed Executive Vice President, Greater China. He will become a member of the Executive Board and will report to Matti Alahuhta, President and CEO.
In the new structure KONE Middle East will be part of the renewed Asia-Pacific area. Noud Veeger will continue to lead the area, now as Executive Vice President, Asia-Pacific and Middle East.
"Separating our China business from our current Asia-Pacific area will further sharpen our focus on the opportunities in this large market. We are the second largest company in the Chinese market, which represented more than 60% of the global market volume in our industry last year. Our market position is very strong also in India, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The new structure gives us good possibilities to develop our business well in all of these markets", says Matti Alahuhta, President and CEO of KONE Corporation.
Juho Malmberg, Executive Vice President, Customer Experience has decided to leave KONE as of June 30, 2012 to become the CEO of a Finnish start-up high-technology company. In addition to his current role, Ari Lehtoranta, Executive Vice President, Central and North Europe will assume responsibility for the Customer Experience development program, one of the five key development programs in KONE.
About KONE
KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator
industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs
of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading
elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as
innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The
company's objective is to offer the best People Flow® experience by
developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move
smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in
an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2011, KONE had annual
net sales of EUR 5.2 billion and on average 35,000 employees. KONE
class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in
Finland.
www.kone.com
For further information, please contact:
Anne Korkiakoski, Executive Vice President, Marketing and
Communications, tel. +358 204 75 4775
Sender:
KONE Corporation
Matti Alahuhta
President and CEO
Anne Korkiakoski
Executive Vice President
Marketing and Communications