Last Wednesday evening, during its annual Finance Summit 2024 at the Haute Club Restaurant, Commerzbank Switzerland presented the coveted Treasury Award for the eighth time in corporate finance circles.

The 5,000 Swiss francs prize was awarded to the treasury team of Swiss automotive supplier Autoneum, primarily in recognition of their successful acquisition of the competitor Borgers from North Rhine-Westphalia.

Previous Winner as Presenter

The keynote speech was delivered by last year’s winner, Lorenz Wilhelm, Head of Corporate Finance at Axpo. He highlighted that Autoneum had «impressively demonstrated how crises can be leveraged as opportunities and catalysts for transformation..»

He further explained that last year's economic outlook was significantly influenced by global political events and the associated geopolitical risks and uncertainties, such as the war in Ukraine, high inflation, interest rates, and a weak economy. «This year's winning company successfully executed the preparation and integration of a competitor's acquisition within less than three months, from announcement to closing,» said Wilhelm.

Open Competition

Autoneum’s Janko Hahn (Head of Treasury Operations) and Fatma Karaman (Treasury Manager) accepted the award from Marc Steinkat, CEO of Commerzbank Switzerland.

According to Steinkat, the competition was open to everyone, with all submissions evaluated by a panel of experts.