BERLIN (AP) -- Schaeffler Group KG, a German auto parts maker that is seeking government help following its takeover of the larger Continental AG, said Wednesday that its chief financial officer is leaving the company amid differences over its future.
Herzogenaurach-based Schaeffler said that CFO Thomas Hetmann was leaving "by mutual agreement." It said that Mary Jo Gresens, its finance chief from 1999 to 2006, would become a consultant to the company for "the next few months."
A company statement said Hetmann would go because "there are differing opinions regarding the assessment of the concept for the future of the Schaeffler Group."
Schaeffler completed a deal worth some €8 billion ($10 billion) to take control of Continental at the beginning of this year, a move that indebted it heavily just as global car markets were unraveling.
Family-owned Schaeffler has said it needs financial help from the government to see it through "massive difficulties" posed by the global economic crisis since the Continental takeover.
Schaeffler said Wednesday that personnel decisions were "made inside the company itself" and creditor banks were not demanding changes.