Jukka Härmälä dropped from Rautaruukki Board

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The state is dropping former Stora Enso CEO Jukka Härmälä from the Board of Directors of the metallurgical company Rautaruukki.
     At the end of January, Härmälä was removed from his position as Chairman of the Board of another largely state-owned metallurgical company, Outokumpu.
     News of Härmälä's sacking from the Rautaruukki board was first made public by the financial newspaper Kauppalehti, whose report was confirmed by Pekka Timonen, head of the state ownership unit of the Prime Minister's Office.
      A final decision on the move is to be made by the Rautaruukki Shareholders' Meeting on April 2nd. No replacement is to be named for Härmälä; the number of members on the board will simply be reduced by one.
      The result of the shareholders' meeting is seen as a foregone conclusion: the state has a 40 per cent holding in Rautaruukki, and the second-largest holder of Rautaruukki stock, the pension company Ilmarinen, has just two per cent.
     
The latest move by Rautaruukki came as a surprise. The appointments committee has proposed that Härmälä, along with the other members of the board, should serve a new term.
      The chairman of the appointments committee is Markku Tapio, a civil servant of the unit run by Pekka Timonen.
      The reason given by Timonen for calling for Härmälä's ouster is "Härmälä's behaviour after the publication of the proposal of the appointments committee". The proposal was made public on January 31st.
      Timonen's superior, Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party), who is also responsible for issues related to state corporate ownership, is on holiday and out of reach of the media. Timonen does not want to comment further on the matter.
      "Härmälä's behaviour" is nevertheless seen to refer to statements made by Härmälä in Helsingin Sanomat after Häkämies had decided to drop him from the board of Outokumpu, where he was also the chairman.
     
In an article published on February 1st, Härmälä accused Häkämies of playing politics. Häkämies rejected the accusation, speaking of a "lack of trust".
      Lurking in the background is the red-hot potato of state corporate ownership - the closure of the Kemijärvi pulp mill owned by Stora Enso.
      Many link the plight of the pulp mill with the losses suffered from investments in the United States that Stora Enso made under the leadership of Jukka Härmälä.
     
The connections were denied by both Stora Enso, Härmälä, and indirectly also by the minister formerly responsible for issues related to state corporate holdings, Mauri Pekkarinen, who is currently the Minister of Economic Affairs.
      Earlier in the winter Pekkarinen said in a television interview that he believes that the Kemijärvi mill would not have been closed down if Härmälä were still at the helm at Stora Enso.
     
Although he is being dropped from both of the boards where he sat after retiring from Stora Enso, Jukka Härmälä will not be a man of leisure. He holds the title of Senior Advisor in the CapMan investment company. He is also on the board of the Russian Timber group, on the administrative board of the pension insurance company Varma, and in key positions in a number of organisations.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  State removes Jukka Härmälä from Outokumpu board (1.2.2008)
  Search is on for successor of Jukka Härmälä as Stora Enso CEO (17.6.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat