The Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA advises and supervises the business activities as conducted by the General Partner and performs the other duties assigned to it by law and by the Articles of Association. It is involved in strategy and planning as well as all matters of fundamental importance for the Company.
Simultaneous membership in both the Supervisory Board and the Management Board is not permissible. In the year under review, the Supervisory Board did not include any members who were also members of the Management Board of the General Partner during the previous two years. The members of the Company’s Supervisory Board are independent in their decisions and are not bound by requirements or instructions of third parties.
Composition
The Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA consisted in the year under review of the following members: Dr. Dieter Schenk (Chairman), Mr. Rolf A. Classon (Vice Chairman), Mr. William P. Johnston, Dr. Dorothea Wenzel (since May 16, 2019), Ms. Pascale Witz and Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd. The members of the Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA are introduced here. There is also information on their term of office on the Company's Supervisory Board.
Because of his extraordinary contributions to the Company’s development and his comprehensive experience, Dr. Ben Lipps is also honorary chairman of the Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA.
All members of the Company’s Supervisory Board are elected by the General Meeting of FMC AG & Co. KGaA as the competent election body according to the provisions of the German Stock Corporation Act by a simple majority of the votes cast. Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is excluded from voting on this issue (further explanations on this matter can be found under “Further Information regarding Corporate Governance” in the section titled “Shareholders”).
Profile of skills and expertise
The Supervisory Board is in its own initiative paying attention to the requirement to have in its entirety the knowledge, capabilities and professional expertise required for the due observation of the duties of the Supervisory Board of a listed company operating internationally in the dialysis business and has resolved a profile of skills and expertise for the entire Supervisory Board. The profile of skills and expertise contains requirements for the individual Supervisory Board members as well as requirements for the entire Supervisory Board and is available here.
When discussing its recommendations for the election of members of the Supervisory Board to the General Meeting, the Supervisory Board considers, within the framework of the profile of skills and expertise as determined by it, in particular the international activities of the enterprise, potential conflicts of interest, what it considers to be an adequate number of independent Supervisory Board members and diversity. As the composition of the Supervisory Board needs to be aligned with the interests of the enterprise and must ensure the effective supervision and consultation of the Management Board, it is, however, a matter of principle and of prime importance that each member is suitably qualified. In the Company's interest to have the widest selection of qualified candidates possible, the Supervisory Board, with a view to specific objectives for its composition and in compliance with its statutory obligations (section 111 para. 5 German Stock Corporation Act) commits itself to pursue self-defined targets for the representation of female Supervisory Board members (see also section “Gender diversity and targets”) and, for the time being, refrains from an age limit and from a duration limit on the term of membership on the Supervisory Board. Instead, the Supervisory Board shall also consist of members with long-term experience and thus individuals who are generally older in order to ensure a balanced ratio of Supervisory Board members of diverse age and various terms of membership. Therefore, with the exception of the determination of target figures for women’s share on the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board has refrained from determining, and from taking into account, specific objectives with respect to its composition when proposing candidates and from publishing the state of the implementation of such specific objectives in the Corporate Governance Report.
As a consequence of the election of Dr. Dorothea Wenzel on May 16, 2019 two of the six Supervisory Board members are female. The share of female Supervisory Board members hence, at the end of the year under view, exceeds the target of 30% as set by the Supervisory Board for its composition. The current composition of the Supervisory Board meets the aims designated for the composition of the board and corresponds to the resolved profile of skills and expertise.
Independence
The Supervisory Board has determined, taking into account the shareholder structure, that it considers at least four independent Supervisory Board members to be an adequate number of independent members.
A member of the Supervisory Board is not to be considered independent pursuant to the recommendation in number 5.4.2 of the Code 2017 in particular if it entertains any personal or business relations with the Company, its corporate bodies, a controlling shareholder or an enterprise associated with the latter which may cause a substantial and not merely temporary conflict of interests. Independent within the meaning of the recommendation of number 5.4.2 of the Code 2017 are, in the view of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Rolf A. Classon, Mr. William P. Johnston, Dr. Dorothea Wenzel, Ms. Pascale Witz and Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd.
According to the recommendation C.7 of the Code 2020, more than half of the members of the Supervisory Board shall be independent from the Company and the Management Board. Members of the Supervisory Board are to be considered independent from the Company and its Management Board if they have no personal or business relationship with the Company or its Management Board that may cause a substantial – and not merely temporary – conflict of interest. When assessing the independence of members of the Supervisory Board from the Company and its Management Board, the Supervisory Board shall particularly take into consideration whether the respective member of the Supervisory Board member itself or a close family member was a member of the Company's Management Board in the two years prior to appointment, is currently maintaining (or has maintained) a material business relationship with the Company or one of the entities dependent upon the company (e.g. as customer, supplier, lender or advisor) in the year up to his/her appointment, directly or as a shareholder, or in a leading position of a non-group entity, or is a close family member of a Management Board member, or has been a member of the Supervisory Board for more than twelve years. Independent within the meaning of the recommendation C.7 of the Code 2020 are, in the view of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Rolf A. Classon, Mr. William P. Johnston, Dr. Dorothea Wenzel, Ms. Pascale Witz and Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd. The Supervisory Board did not need to consider the question of whether Dr. Dieter Schenk and Mr. William P. Johnston are to be regarded as independent within the meaning of the recommendation C.7 of the Code 2020 in view of their term of office on the Supervisory Board of the Company of more than 12 years, because the number of those Supervisory Board members who have been members of the Supervisory Board for no more than 12 years and are otherwise to be qualified as independent already complies with the recommendation C.7 of the Code 2020.
Details on the treatment of potential conflicts of interests are set out in the section “Legal relationships with members of the Company’s corporate bodies” below.
The term of office of the members of the Supervisory Board is in principle five years. The current term of office of the incumbent members of the Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA ends at the end of the General Meeting that resolves on the discharge for the fiscal year 2020, i.e. at the end of the Annual General Meeting 2021.
Rules of Procedure
Details on the election, constitution and term of office of the Supervisory Board, its meetings and the adoption of resolutions, as well as its rights and obligations, are set out in the Company’s Articles of Association available on the Company’s website at www.freseniusmedicalcare.com in the “Investors” section. In accordance with the recommendation in number 5.1.3 of the Code 2017 or, respectively, the recommendation D.1 of the Code 2020, the Supervisory Board has furthermore adopted rules of procedure which set out, among other things, the modalities for convening meetings and the manner in which resolutions are adopted. In accordance with these, the Supervisory Board meets regularly at least twice per calendar half year. The convocation period for meetings of the Supervisory Board is generally two weeks. The deliberations of the Supervisory Board are conducted by the Chairman or, if the latter is unavailable, by the Vice Chairman. The Chairman of the meeting also determines the order of the agenda items and the mode of voting. As a rule, the Supervisory Board decides by simple majority of votes cast if decisions are taken in physical meetings and otherwise with the simple majority of its members, unless other majorities are prescribed by a mandatory provision of law in the individual case. The provisions of the rules of procedure for the Supervisory Board of the Company also apply to its committees, unless their rules of procedure contain deviating provisions. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board coordinates the work and direction of the Supervisory Board; he also represents the Supervisory Board vis-à-vis third parties.
Efficiency evaluations
In accordance with the recommendation in number 5.6 of the Code 2017 or, respectively, the recommendation D.13 of the Code 2020, the members of the Supervisory Board regularly carry out efficiency evaluations or, respectively, self-assessments with regard to their work. These take place in the form of open discussions in plenary meetings, based on a corresponding questionnaire. On these annual occasions, also the complexity and the design of the presentations, as well as the meetings’ procedure and structuring are discussed. The results of the efficiency evaluations or, respectively, self-assessments carried out have shown that each of the Supervisory Board and its committees are efficiently organized and that the cooperation of the Supervisory Board and the Management Boards works very well.
Professional competence
All members of the Supervisory Board have the capabilities as well as the knowledge required for the proper exercise of their duties. The Supervisory Board members are in their entirety familiar with the sector FMC AG & Co. KGaA operates in. The members of the Supervisory Board regularly update themselves via in-house sources and via external sources about the current status of supervisory requirements. In addition to the information provided to them by several external experts, also experts of the Company’s departments regularly provide reports about relevant developments, such as – for example – relevant new developments in the revision of legal rules or in jurisprudence and also about recent developments in regulations on accounting and annual auditing. In this way, the Supervisory Board, with the Company’s reasonable assistance, ensures an ongoing qualification of its members and also a further development and updating of their expertise, power of judgment and experience, which is required for the Supervisory Board including its committees to duly perform their tasks.
Details of the key activities of the Supervisory Board’s consultations in the year under review can be found in the Report by the Supervisory Board on pages 111 et seqq. of the Annual Report.