14.11.2003

Fil Filipov to retire from Terex. Steve Filipov to take over

Terex Corporation announced today that effective from January 1, 2004, Fil Filipov, currently president and CEO of Terex Cranes, will retire from full time employment with the company. Filipov has agreed to continue as a consultant to the company, focusing on restructuring activities and working on special projects.

Filipov has committed to consult with the company for a minimum of 26 weeks a year over a three-year period. Initially, Filipov and his company will assist with the restructuring, integration and operation of the company’s latest acquisition, Tatra, a manufacturer of on/off road heavy-duty vehicles located in the Czech Republic and also. As part of this task, Filipov will continue his role as chairman of the supervisory board of Tatra.

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Steve Filipov

"Fil has been an important part of Terex and I expect him to continue to make a meaningful contribution to the company in the future as a consultant,” commented Ronald M. DeFeo, Terex’s chairman and CEO. “Fil has helped me over the past 10 years in transforming Terex from a small and financially stressed entity into a first class company. In the last year alone, he has been largely responsible for the successful integration of our acquisition of Demag Mobile Cranes into Terex. He is highly regarded in the crane industry and by everyone associated with Terex.”

Fil Filipov, a Bulgarian by birth, escaped from the communist regime at 17 and eventually ended up sweeping floors at International Harvester. His job with International Harvester became a career. He then moved on to J I Case as vice president of Construction Equipment Europe and then to Tenneco as divisional president prior to joining Terex in 1993.

In his time at Terex, Filipov has become one of the crane and access industry’s most colorful and controversial managers. He is most certainly one of the great characters of the crane industry.
(See Stuart Andersons comments on Fil below)

Earlier this year, the Filipov family became involved with the Clark forklift business through the estanblishment of Filco. Filco successful acquired Clark Material Handling from the administrators and signed an 18-month lease for the Muelheim plant in Germany.

After restarting production they entered into negotiations with Airtrax and agreed a relatively complex funding and restructuring deal with the company. This deal fell through at the end of August when Airtrax failed to raise the funds required to buy into Filco.

Some industry insiders were surprised that Fil Filipov continued as CEO at Terex after this acquisition, and while not a direct conflict of interest, it raised some questions or at least eyebrows, in some quarters. Terex has not commented on Filipov's involvement with the Clark/Filco business, nor if it had any connection with his retirement from his role as CEO of Terex Cranes.

At the same time as the announcement of Filipov's retirement, Terex also announced the appointment of the new crane segment management team. Filipov's son, Steve Filipov will assume the role of president of Terex Cranes. Filipov junior has served most recently as group president of Terex Cranes International.

“This is a natural transition, as Steve has worked in the crane business for over 8 years and has strong customer and industry expertise,” stated DeFeo.

In his new position, Steve Filipov will oversee the worldwide operations of the Terex Cranes business.

“I am pleased to accept this new challenge and look forward to taking Terex Cranes to the next level as an industry leader,” commented Steve Filipov.

“We have had a successful and difficult year in 2003, considering the economics in the crane business. Following the acquisition of Demag Mobile Cranes a little over one year ago, we restructured the business and have built a strong base for our segment going into 2004.”

In a related move, Dani Goldsmith has been appointed president of North American Crane Operations for Terex Cranes and Alexander Knecht has been appointed president of Terex Cranes International. Goldsmith has been serving as chief financial officer for the Crane Group worldwide, while Knecht has been serving as managing director of Demag. Both will report to Steve Filipov, effective from January 1, 2004.

Stuart Anderson, of Chortsey Barr Associates, the well known Consultants to the lifting industry, and a freind of Fil Filipov,
had this to say about Fils "retirement":

"As Fil told me, Filipov is not retiring - Steve is only 35 years old."

Fil will continue to serve as a consultant to Terex under a new three year contract and for a minimum of 26 weeks per year. As many people know, 6-months of Fil Filipov equals about the same number of hours that most executives put in over 12 months.

The promotion of Steve Filipov to President is well deserved, following his successful management of the Demag and Atlas acquisitions. It must also be viewed in context with the rest of the industry. The past 12-18 months have seen the retirement of Freddy Bar, Sakae Tadano and Heinz Schiller as well as the departure from the industry of Jeff Bust. In comparison with several of his peers, Steve Filipov has much greater knowledge and experience of the world's crane industry and its markets.

"Some competitors are already asking if Terex will now change it's ten-year old policy of no price increases - my reply is that I would not expect this to happen while there is a Filipov not just running Terex but in any way connected with Terex.

In fact, I don't think it would happen unless ownership of the company changed - which at present does not seem to be on the horizon. In addition so long as Fil Filipov is directly involved with Terex, as quickly and decisively as he makes decisions, it might be argued that a little longer in the shower each morning could result in even more impactful inputs."