Following a massive internal dispute over adherence to compliance rules, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of agricultural trading group Baywa, Klaus Josef Lutz, has resigned abruptly after a special meeting of the board. As the Munich SDax member announced ad hoc on January 19, the 65-year-old had resigned from office with "immediate effect". After many years as CEO of the long-established company, the lawyer had moved to and taken over as its Chairman the Supervisory Board in spring 2023.

Lutz's decision to throw in the towel came shortly after Baywa announced that the Supervisory Board had expressed its "unreserved confidence" in the Board of Management and Lutz's successor, CEO Marcus Pöllinger, at its extraordinary meeting on Friday. There had previously been speculation that the supervisory body could dismiss Pöllinger. The special meeting of the board must have been quite turbulent as a result of the management crisis. According to the company, the main issue was the accusation against Pöllinger that he had violated the rules of good corporate governance. Baywa did not provide any further details on the matter. In this case, the 45-year-old business economist allegedly lost the trust of the chief supervisor. However, Lutz then lost out in the escalated power struggle when he realised that he did not have a majority behind him on the supervisory body. The relationship between Lutz and Pöllinger was thus finally shattered. Bernhard Loy is the first deputy chairman of the 16-member Supervisory Board.

Pöllinger has only been CEO of Baywa since April last year. The manager has been a member of the top management body since 2018. In spring 2023, the change at the top of the Group gave the impression from the outside that it had been a smooth transition. The very self-confident Lutz is known for his directness. Under his leadership, the Baywa Group, which belongs to the cooperative sector, developed into an international trading group that earns a lot of money in the renewable energy sector. Lutz expected his successor to continue to pursue this strategy. In addition to Pöllinger, the Baywa Board of Management includes Andreas Helber (Finance), Marlen Wienert (Agriculture, Technology, Energy) and Reinhard Wolf (representative of the Austrian sister group RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG).

Baywa's two largest individual shareholders are Bayerische Raiffeisen-Beteiligungs AG (38.1% of the share capital) and Raiffeisen Agrar Invest AG (28.1%). The free float accounts for 33.8% of the share capital. Both major shareholders have representatives on the Supervisory Board.