Incoming Clariant CEO sets sights on success

By Annika Breidthardt

ZURICH (Reuters) - Clariant's incoming CEO Jan Secher loves to win, everywhere from a yacht race to the boardroom. His latest challenge will be to complete a turnaround at the specialty chemicals maker.

An avid skier, cyclist and yachtsman, he has a good deal of restructuring experience under his belt from his more than 10 years as a manager at ABB (ABBN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and a keen desire to win.

Outside the boardroom he has excelled at yachting by winning a Canadian competition in the J/24 class in 1987. He is also an avid downhill and Nordic skier and has cycled his way around the route of the Tour de France.

The 48 year-old Swede is due to take over as Clariant's (CLN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive after the firm's annual general meeting on April 7, facing the prospect of completing an ambitious restructuring plan by 2007 with investors hungry for results.

"I can't stand losing," Secher told a Swiss newspaper in a recent interview.

Clariant built up a debt mountain with its acquisition in 2000 of British fine chemicals maker BTP, forcing the pigments maker to restructure, including divestments and raising capital to fix its balance sheet.

ABB also came to the brink of collapse due to debts stemming from a buying spree in the 1990s, forcing it to slash jobs and sell businesses.

And in his next job, as chief executive of SICPA, a Swiss inks maker, Secher divested non-core assets, which analysts say will make him more likely to sell units where needed.  Continued...