Fred Kindle, the former president and CEO of ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB), has become a partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a private equity firm.
Under Kindle’s leadership ABB accomplished an impressive turnaround in performance during the period 2004-8, with core operating sales and profitability both rising substantially. Prior to ABB, Kindle served from 1999-2004 as president and CEO of Sulzer, a global industrial engineering and manufacturing company, where he led a significant portfolio restructuring and profit enhancement.
“Europe is an important market for Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. We believe that our success working on large global divestitures across a range of industries and building value by improving long-term business performance aligns well with the opportunities to help large, global companies reshape their portfolios. We are pleased to welcome Fred to the firm,” says Donald J. Gogel, CEO, CD&R.
“CD&R is a firm with a long and successful record of improving the underlying operating performance of portfolio companies, which has never been more relevant than it is today. I am pleased to join a group with such a strong sense of shared values, and I look forward to applying my management experience as part of the CD&R team,” adds Kindle.
Prior to Sulzer, Kindle also served at McKinsey & Company in New York and Zurich. He is a member of the Boards of Zurich Financial Services and VZ Holding Ltd.