German engineering giant Siemens unveiled on Wednesday a major restructuring of its management, appointing Ralf Thomas as its new Finance Chief.

Thomas, 52, is to replace Joe Kaeser, who was promoted to the Chief Executive’s job in July following the departure of Peter Loescher after a boardroom battle at the Munich-based group.

“With Ralf Thomas, we are gaining an experienced Chief Financial Officer who is very familiar with the circumstances at Siemens through his many years of working at the company,” Siemens chairman Gerhard Cromme said in a statement.

Group shares rose more than 1 per cent to 89.73 euros on the Frankfurt Stock Market following the announcement of the management changes.

Siemens also announced on Wednesday that its personnel chief Brigitte Ederer would be leaving the company at the end of the month to be replaced by Klaus Helmrich, who is to add her tasks to his existing job as the group’s Chief Technology Officer.

Loescher stood down from the Chief Executive’s post in July following two profit warnings and mounting costs from the group’s solar power business.

Thomas, who takes over as Chief Finance Officer immediately, was Finance Chief for the group’s industrial products business.

Siemens said Jim Hagemann Snabe is to join Siemens’ supervisory board after former Deutsche Bank Chief Josef Ackermann stepped down this month.

Snabe is co-chief executive of Europe’s biggest software maker SAP.

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