Board oversight of Winnipeg farm equipment manufacturer Buhler Industries will now include another of the company’s upper managers, as a co-owner of the company’s Russian parent firm and the company’s founder both step down.
Buhler’s board announced Wednesday it has accepted the resignation of Konstantin Babkin, the president and co-owner of Russian holding company Novoe Sodrugestvo, the owner of ag equipment maker Rostselmash, which in turn holds almost 97 per cent of Buhler.
Babkin has been a Buhler board member since 2007, when Rostselmash took up an 80 per cent stake in the Canadian company, best known as the manufacturer of Versatile tractors and Farm King implements.
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Buhler has publicly condemned Russia’s launch last week of an invasion against neighbouring Ukraine. On Wednesday the company also announced a fundraising effort in partnership with the Red Cross, offering to match staff and dealer donations up to $100,000 total, in support of humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Babkin, however, “has been a vocal supporter of the actions taken” by Russia — views which Buhler said Wednesday are “in stark contrast to those of the North American executive team and do not reflect the position or values of Buhler Industries.”
Babkin is also known as a co-founder of Russia’s Action Party, which is said to be allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime — and he has been seen as particularly vulnerable to potential sanctions by Canada.
In 2014, the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress urged the Canadian government to consider sanctions on Babkin for his public support of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
Babkin was replaced Wednesday on the Buhler board by the Winnipeg company’s vice-president of sales and marketing, Adam Reid.
Reid — a former editor of Glacier FarmMedia’s Alberta Farmer Express newspaper — “has over 15 years of experience with (Buhler) and has been pivotal in recent growth, building trust and relationships with the Versatile dealer network,” Buhler said Wednesday.
Buhler on Wednesday also announced the appointment of its chief operating officer, Grant Adolph, as the chairman of its board. He replaces Dmitry Udras, another Novoe Sodrugestvo co-owner, as Buhler’s chair.
Buhler also named Ossama AbouZeid as a member of its board and chair of its audit committee. AbouZeid had served as Buhler’s president and chief financial officer up until the Rostselmash takeover in 2007.
On the board, AbouZeid replaces Buhler Industries founder John Buhler, who “has decided to retire,” the company said Wednesday.
Buhler Industries, in its statement last week condemning the Ukraine invasion, emphasized that despite its majority shareholder, the Canadian firm “is not a Russian company” and its decisions “are made in Canada.”
The new appointments to the board, it said Wednesday, are meant to “align the organization with the values of the Canadian-based leadership team.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
