Roche Board has decided to nominate Christoph Franz, CEO of the Lufthansa Group, as new chairman at the forthcoming annual general meeting of shareholders to be held on March 4, 2014. Christoph Franz is thus nominated to succeed Franz B. Humer, who announced at the last shareholder meeting that he would not be standing for re-election.

Commenting on the nomination of Christoph Franz, Roche chairman Franz B. Humer said: “With Christoph Franz, Roche is getting a chairman with outstanding personal qualities and an impressive record as head of a major global company. I am sure that his extensive experience, exceptional global network and strong links to Switzerland will be great assets.”

Christoph Franz said: “I am delighted that the Board of Directors has nominated me to become the next chairman of the Roche Group. Roche is an outstanding company. As a board member I have had ample opportunity to get to know and admire its strong business performance and corporate culture. Strategically, Roche is in very good shape, and I am looking forward to taking on this opportunity.”

In 2012 Roche had over 82,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The group posted sales of 45.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.